MANILA — Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno meets the members of the media for her annual press conference in Intramuros, Manila.
Before answering questions from the press, the chief justice tackled reforms to expedite trial of drugs cases among others.
She says, the fight against illegal drugs is everybody’s concern.
But she points out that all the courts can do is act on cases brought before them.
“Courts cannot prevent the entry, manufacture, sale or use of drugs. It does not gather intelligence. It does not enforce the law, prosecute cases or run rehabilitation programs. What it provides is justice to the state and the victims if there is an evidence of guilt and to the accused if there is none,” CJ Sereno explained.
She adds that the Supreme Court has generated waves of reforms with such energy as had not been seen before.
Curent programs include automation of case management, continuous trial, docket decongestion, and most recently the designation of additional anti-drugs court.
“How do all the above judicial reform programs provide justice in drugs cases? Obviously, they expedite the resolution of drugs cases,” Sereno said.
Sereno also shares the court’s observations on the trial of drugs cases.
She provides an explanation to the low-conviction rate of drug suspects.
“Many drugs cases are delayed or dismissed for the following reasons: the absence of police witnesses, the dearth of prosecutors and public attorneys and the weak evidence of the prosecution in relation to the rules on chain of custody and inventory of seized drugs and paraphernalia.”
The chief justice also tackles the Maguindanao massacre case, among other high-profile cases.
Last year, Sereno said they are eyeing partial judgement on some of the principal suspects by June this year.
But until now, the defense is still presenting their rebuttal evidence.
“Last year you have mentioned the possibility of a partial judgment. Do we see this coming soon? Considering that there are certain situations,” asked UNTV News Manager Erin Tañada.
“What we now have is a court faithfully observing the instruction of the Supreme Court to make sure that the hearing proceeds and does not encounter delay but this must be balanced by the rights of the accused, which in many instances, the court could not avoid granting extensions,” replied Sereno.
“Hopefully will live up to its commitment to expedite also their presentation and terminate the same. We can consider this as outside of the court’s control,” she added.
Sereno also calls on the people to support reforms of the judiciary. — Roderic Mendoza | UNTV News & Rescue
The post CJ Sereno tackles reforms to expedite trial of drugs cases appeared first on UNTV News.