ON JULY 19, 2016, barely a month after President Rodrigo Duterte took his oath into office, the Supreme Court (SC) issued a memorandum by ordering 240 Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) in the country to handle cases exclusively for illegal drugs, or at least accommodate additional caseloads for that matter.
Signed by 15 justices led by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the SC bared in the memorandum that the influx of new drug cases was constantly rising, thus an urgency to authorize more trial courts to hear and decide drugs cases.
“With 715 RTCs out of the 955 RTCs already handling drugs cases, the remaining 240 other RTCs may be mobilized and directed to also hear, try and decide all newly-filed drugs cases to help de-congest the dockets of specially-designated drugs courts and expedite the resolution of drugs cases,” the SC stated.
Under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, there are only 65 "Special courts" in every region that handle illegal drugs cases.
The SC also noted that there are 529 courts currently handling drugs cases, with another 121 "family courts" handling drugs cases that involved minors, which was also covered under Republic Act 8369 or the Family Courts Act of 1997.
The order from the SC to expand its courts of illegal drugs cases, in a way, corroborates the degree of infestation illegal drugs have brought to our country, and while extrajudicial killings (EJKs) on drug suspects were rampant, it should be noted that due process of the law is still observed thus the reason why the need for adding more courts to handle it.
Although independent and autonomous from each other, the SC somehow mutually acknowledged the need to support the President’s mandate on eradicating illegal drugs in the country, however, it did so through legal means.
It can also be noted that even before Duterte took office, voluminous cases related to illegal drugs were being heard by the courts, and given the slow-paced system in coming up with decisions sometimes, we can only assume that the courts have reached an overwhelming number of cases both old and new that may stuck for another three to five years.
Had there been a speedy trial in convicting drug suspects in the country, people would put their trust in the judiciary system and let the law prevails. Sometimes, it’s the exasperation of the people to endlessly wait for justice to arrive from that courts that most of them would eventually support alternative means, like EJKs - a dilemma of both moral and legal proportions.
Had our courts and justice system were fast in resolving cases, there would be less killings, human rights are observed, and the President’s pronouncements on killings can be considered just a joke.
We don’t want shortcuts like the EJKs, we also don’t want cases to stall in the courts forever. We can only envy other countries that are quick to pass on verdicts on criminal cases. But hopefully the SC’s move to expand more courts to handle cases on illegal drugs is a start.
(nefluczon@gmail.com)
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