A TOTAL of 978 active drug cases have yet to be resolved in different courts in Bacolod City since January 2017.
Court records showed that Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 45 under Judge Phoebe Balbin had the most number of drug cases with 188 charges under trial.
It is followed by RTC Branch 48 of Judge Rosario Ester Orda-Caise and RTC Branch 46 of Judge Edgar Tupas, with 169 and 115 drug cases, respectively.
Originally, only RTC Branch 47 under Judge Therese Blanche Bolunia and RTC Branch 52 under Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier were designated as drugs court.
The Supreme Court (SC) issued a circular in September 2016 stating that all drug cases be raffled to all general jurisdictional courts.
This is to give time for the drug courts to dispose all the cases being tried under their jurisdiction.
Javier earlier noted that the number of drug cases in the courts of Bacolod shoot up since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in July 2016.
Meanwhile, 2,915 cases filed in 14 RTCs in Bacolod have been resolved since last year.
Of the number, 2,222 were criminal cases, including illegal drug charges, while the rest are civil complaints, special proceedings, and cadastral/land cases.
RTC Branch 54 of Judge Eduardo Sayson has the highest disposal rate of 292 cases resolved followed by RTC Branches 48 and 50, with 279 and 265 resolved cases, respectively.
RTC Branch 50 is under Judge Estefanio Libutan.
A total of 1,025 criminal cases were filed in 2017, which are still pending in court.
Currently, there are 10 incumbent judges, while the other four have retired in 2017 and early this year.
Selection process to fill up the vacant courts in Bacolod is ongoing.