“…There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine…” –Amos 5:10-11

According to Supreme Court documents, there are currently around 250,000 cases involving illegal drugs pending before nearly 1,100 regional trial courts across the country. During a recent lecture by Supreme Court Deputy Court Administrator Raul Bautista Villanueva, said there are currently some 640,000 total cases pending trial.

He went on to call the current workload for judges as “truly terrible” and “too taxing.”

In terms of “first level courts” (metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts, et al), they are currently trying around 146,000 cases.

Bautista Villanueva also touched upon postponements, which further delay cases, calling it a “problem” the Supreme Court is addressing “earnestly.”

He also talked about recent regulations implemented by the Supreme Court in order to ensure speedier trials, including the “Revised Guidelines on Continuous Trial of Criminal Cases,” which offers new methods of hastening civil and criminal trials.

What cases are covered by the new guidelines? All pending criminal cases; along with violations of the Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002 and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, cases involving the environment and intellectual property rights, and those being tried by family and commercial courts.

We will deal with all of these later, God willing.

***

Please send reactions/feedback to 0977-805-9058, 0918-574-0193, 0917-984-2468, or 0933-825-1308; send an email to batasmauricio@yahoo.com; or message my Facebook and Messenger accounts at “Melanio Lazo Mauricio Jr.”/WDJ