NEWLY appointed Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla called for the “improvements” in the criminal justice system as he noted that the current 25 percent conviction rate for cases filed in courts could not be considered a passing rate.
In a joint news briefing with Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. at Camp Crame in Quezon City, Remulla said the 25 percent conviction rate is an indication that enforcement and prosecution are not working well together.
“The conviction rate right now is less than 25 percent for cases filed in criminal courts and this includes plea bargaining, which means we are not really getting a passing rate. This is not a standard that we can live with. We have to change this drastically,” Remulla said.
He stressed that getting high conviction rate would be a good deterrent against criminality.
However, based on the 2021 annual report of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the National Prosecution Service, the prosecution arm of the DOJ, has maintained a high prosecution rate, with 92 percent of cases successfully prosecuted and resulting in convictions.
The report also showed 88 percent of cases for preliminary investigation resolved within the prescribed period.
“What is really needed is the certainty of punishment and when the conviction rate is very low then the certainty of punishment goes down, then the criminals have a heyday, an easy time with the law,” Remulla pointed out.
To address this predicament, Remulla said the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the DILG are looking into the possibility of coming out with a program for the retraining of law enforcement units in both remedial and substantive law such as on conducting surveillance, effecting an arrest, preserving the scene of the crime, processing a scene of the crime and processing the evidence.
“All of these have to be restudied and re-inculcated and of course injected into the system in a more widespread manner meaning every police station should have that skill already from the very start…We have to have an efficient criminal justice system,” the justice chief said.
For the prosecution, Remulla noted the apparent confusion on the Rules of the Court as to the quasi-judicial function of prosecutors.
“Quasi-judicial functions should not take precedence over our role to prosecute cases and prosecute them to the very end that people guilty of crimes be convicted and punished,” the DOJ chief added.
Remulla added that the issue has been brought to the attention of the judicial branch.
He expressed belief that prosecutors and law enforcers should be working together towards the goal of securing a conviction to avoid finger-pointing when criminals elude conviction.