REPRESENTATIVES from various agencies from the five pillars of the criminal justice system in Bacolod met for the Government and Justice session held at Park Inn hotel in Bacolod City on Thursday, April 28.
Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Raymond Javier with European Union representative Christian Eldon met with the various representations of the said agencies involved in the dispensation of justice in Bacolod City.
Javier said the Bacolod City Justice Zone 2022 was established in 2018 aiming to promote cooperation among the three major branches -- the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Interior and Local Government.
He said it was created last 2018 at the National Government Complex, which former Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin inaugurated.
The primordial consideration in the “Justice Zone” is the case decongestion, case management, case docket decongestion, and decongestion of the jail facilities in Bacolod City.
This is their second meeting for this year.
At present, there are 1,500 plus inmates who are considered persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in the three jail facilities in Bacolod City who have pending cases in our courts.
“Just imagine 1,500 plus PDLs being tried by our courts, so you multiply that... that's more or less 3,000 to 4,000 cases already in the Regional Trial Courts alone and 80 percent of those cases are all drug-related,” Javier said.
The optimal capacity of each jail is around 300, he said, which means they are congested by more than 300 percent.
“We identify problems in the justice sector, and we talk about those problems, and we work out solutions to these problems,” the judge said, adding that they want to involve the media about it so that the public will know.
“Being the fourth estate, the media is part of our attainment of accountability and transparency in the office (to) help restore the public confidence in the justice sector (and) to ensure that justice is being done and served in Bacolod City,” he said.
For his part, Eldon, who is also the GoJust program team leader, said the European Union has been funding the Justice sector since 2006 and so far they have been doing so in a series of different programs.
Eldon, who has been involved in the program since 2016, said the funding is meant to improve justice delivery and strengthen coordination in the sector both nationally and internationally.
“At the local level, regarding the concept of the Justice Zone, we have our planning session to identify some of the problems the justice sector is facing here in Bacolod and identify some solutions to address them,” he noted.
Eldon said they work together with the Justice Zone committee representatives from the Philippine National Police, Public Attorney’s Office, Prosecutor's Office, the courts, business sector, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the health and water sectors among others.
“There is no limit as to who could be invited to the sessions of the Justice Zone,” he emphasized.