Detainees call for SC help with slow resolution of cases

Detainees in Pampanga provincial jail called on the attention of the Supreme Court (SC) on the slow resolution of their cases.

In a three-page letter to SC Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez last Monday, they complained about the “very slow setting of hearings in various courts and judges” handling their criminal cases.

“It (the setting of hearings) takes a long time and most of us have almost only one hearing per year… There are those whose cases have ran for 10 to 15 years and still have no resolution up to this day,” the handwritten letter in Filipino signed by detainees with pending cases before the Regional Trial Court Branches 41 to 48, 54 and 55.

The detainees said they already called the attention of the Executive Judge Divina Luz Simbulan, but their pleas were unanswered.

“We told her about our concerns, but she just ignored us,” they said.

“Even if we are detainees, we still hope to start a brand new life with our families. But because of the slow justice system here, our hopes have been destroyed,” they lamented.

“We are hoping for your attention and immediate action, for the sake of our families,” they appealed.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno has been targeting speedy resolution of court cases to declog dockets and decongest jails as part of her judicial reform program.

The SC has also been implementing the Justice on Wheels project for the same purposes.