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COURT PILLAR AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ( Current Thrusts and Challenges)

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By: JUDGE SILVINO T. PAMPILO, JR. Presiding Judge, RTC Manila, Branch 26 Professor of Law and Pre-Bar Reviewer Remedial Law, Political Law, Commercial Law and Civil Law Lecturer: Mandatory Continuing Legal Education and Philippine Judicial Academy

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There are actually five (5) pillars of criminal justice system, as follows: (1) Community (2) The Law Enforcement (3) The Prosecution Service (4) The Courts (5) The Correctional Institution If one of these pillars is dysfunctional, there will be miscarriage of justice.The five (5) pillars of the Philippine Criminal Justice System have important roles to play in the investigation, prosecution and dispensation of justice of the alleged offenders or felons.

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COMMUNITY The first pillar is the COMMUNITY (Society, People & People’s Organizations). It refers to institutions, government, and non-government agencies and people’s organizations that provide care and assistance to the victims or offended party, during and after the onset of a victims’ rights case. The community has a significant role to assume in all the phases of judicial involvement of offender as well as the protection process: the prevention of abuse, cruelty, discrimination and exploitation, assistance of offenders who enter the criminal justice system and the acceptance of the offenders upon his reintegration into the community after he goes out of jail.

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LAW ENFORCEMENT The second pillar is LAW ENFORCEMENT (PNP, NBI, PDEA, ISAFP, NICA) It involves government agencies charged with the enforcement of penal laws. It is primarily responsible for the investigation and determination whether an offense has been committed, and where needed, the apprehension of alleged offenders for further investigation of the third pillar,,, Prosecution Service. Every police investigator should be well versed on these requirements if the government wants to improve the conviction rate. Cops who lack sufficient knowledge of the law should have access to legal advice. Every police district should have a legal team that can be tapped around the clock by law enforcers who need legal guidance. The PNP has a pool of lawyers in the Judge Advocate General’s Office that can be put to work in providing the needed advice. If presented with an airtight case by the police, prosecutors will have few excuses if the case is bungled in the course of a court trial. There must be a system of keeping track of the progress of these cases, which will make it easier to pinpoint responsibility if the accused is acquitted and the case thrown out.

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PROSECUTION The third pillar is the PROSECUTION SERVICE (Public Prosecutors, City or Provincial Prosecutors, Ombudsman, State Prosecutors and Special Prosecutors) refers to the National Prosecution Service (NPS). The NPS, DOJ and Ombudsman are mandated to investigate and prosecute penal violations of the Revised Penal Code and Special Laws. It collates, evaluates evidence in the preliminary investigation and inquest proceedings dismisses or files the case in court if there is probable cause. The Public Attorneys Office or private defense counsel, on the other hand, serves as the defender of offender who is charged before the court and unable to hire the service of the retained lawyer.

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COURTS The fourth pillar is the COURTS (RTC, MTC, MCTC, MTCC, METC,CTA, SB, CA and SC) such as Supreme Court, Appellate Collegial Courts and such other lower Courts, MTCs and Regional Trial Courts designated to handle and try the cases and render judgment after trial.

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CORRECTIONAL The fifth pillar is the CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM (NBP, CIW, BJMP) . It refers to institutions mandated to administer both correctional and rehabilitation programs for the offenders. These programs develop the offenders or convicts’ abilities and potentials and facilitate their re-integration into the community and normal family life. The rehabilitation and recovery process involves the support of government agencies, non-government organizations and most importantly the family and community so that the offender as well as the offended can heal and recover in order to be able to cope and rebuild their lives. The fifth pillar is formerly called PRISON JAIL or PENITENTIARY, it is now called a CORRECTIONAL (e.g. Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong) because the purpose of the law is to correct and rehabilitate the convict as productive citizen of the country, after he goes out of prison, as he will commingle or return to the community to live a new life as a normal person, not anymore as an ex-convict.

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COURTS OF LAW (SC, CA, SB, CTA, RTC, METC, MTCC, MTC, MCTC) The courts serve as the venue where disputes and real life dramas were held and then settled and justice is administered. With regard to criminal justice, there are a number of critical people in any court setting. These critical people are referred to as the courtroom work group and include both professional and non professional individuals. These include the Judge and his staff, prosecutor and the defense lawyer. The judge, is a person, appointed, who is knowledgeable in the law, and whose function is to objectively administer the legal proceedings and offer a final decision to dispose of a case. In the U.S. and in a growing number of states, guilt or innocence (although in the U.S. a jury can never find a defendant "innocent" but rather "not guilty") is decided through the adversarial system . In this system, two parties will both offer their version of events and argue their case before the court (sometimes before a judge or panel of judges, sometimes before a jury). The case should be decided in favor of the party who offers the most sound and compelling arguments based on the law as applied to the facts of the case.

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MY FRUSTRATIONS AS JUDGE (1) Prosecutors and lawyers are unprepared for trial. Incompetence. (2) PNP personnel and other witnesses cannot express themselves. (3) Adulterated evidence (4) Witnesses cannot be located (5) Career exposure – Potential criticism (6) Peer pressure (7) Traffic – Punctuality (8) Wounded pride (9) Time pressure (10) Insufficient resources (11) Lack of civility

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REQUISITES OF A JUDICIAL INQUIRY Courts are passive instruments that can act only when their jurisdiction is invoked. It is understood, of course, that, even then, the question raised will not be entertained by them if it is political in nature. Furthermore, by virtue of a judge-made policy, no constitutional question will be heard and decided by them unless there is compliance with what are known as the requisites of a judicial inquiry. These requisites are the following: (1) There must be an actual case or controversy; (2) The question of constitutionality must be raised by the proper party; The constitutional question must be raised at the earliest possible opportunity; and The decision of the constitutional question must be necessary to the determination of the case itself.

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ACTUAL CASE An actual case or controversy involves a conflict of legal rights, an assertion of opposite legal claims susceptible of judicial adjudication. The case must not be moot or academic based on extra-legal or other similar considerations not cognizable by a court of justice. There must be a contratriety of legal rights that can be interpreted and enforced on the basis of existing law and jurisprudence.

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PROPER PARTY A proper party is one who has sustained or is in immediate danger of sustaining an injury as a result of the act complained of. Until and unless such actual or potential injury is established, the complainant cannot have the legal personality to raise the constitutional question.

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EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY The rule is that the constitutional question must be raised at the earliest possible opportunity, such that if it is not raised in the pleadings, it cannot be considered at the trial, and, if not considered at the trial, it cannot be considered on appeal. This general rule, however, is subject to the following exceptions: In criminal cases, the constitutional question can be raised at any time in the discretion of the court. In civil cases, the constitutional question can be raised at any stage if it is necessary to the determination of the case itself. In every case, except where there is estoppel, the constitutional question can be raised at any stage if it involves the jurisdiction of the court.

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NECESSITY OF DECIDING CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION

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JUDICIAL DUE PROCESS As held in a long line of decisions, the following are the requirements of procedural due process in judicial proceedings: There must be an impartial court or tribunal clothed with judicial power to hear and determine the matter before it. Jurisdiction must be lawfully acquired over the person of the defendant and over the property which is the subject matter of the proceeding. (3) The defendant must be given an opportunity to be heard. (4) Judgment must be rendered upon lawful hearing.

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IMPARTIAL AND COMPETENT COURT It is clear that a court affected by bias or prejudice cannot be expected to render a fair and impartial decision. As our Supreme Court has declared, every litigant is entitle to the cold neutrality of an impartial judge.

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JURISDICTION In actions in personam, such as a complaint for recovery of a loan, jurisdiction over the defendant is acquired by the court by his voluntary appearance of through service of summons upon him. This may be effected personally, or by substituted service, or, in exceptional cases, by publication. In actions in rem or quasi in rem such as land registration proceedings of the foreclosure of a real estate mortgage, the jurisdiction of the court is derived from the power it may exercise over the property. Jurisdiction over the person is not essential, provided the relief granted by the court is limited to such as can be enforced against the property itself. Notice by publication is sufficient in these cases.

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HEARING Notice to a party is essential to enable it to adduce its own evidence and to meet and refute the evidence submitted by the other party. Every litigant is entitled to his day in court. He has a right to be notified of every incident of the proceeding and to be present at every stage thereof so that he may be heard by himself and counsel for the protection of his interests.

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JUDGMENT The right to a hearing would be meaningless if in the end the judge could disregard the evidence adduced by the parties and decide the case on the basis of his own unsupported conclusions. To insure against such arbitrariness, due process requires that the judgment be based upon the lawful hearing previously conducted. And to augment this requirement, Article VIII, Section 14, of the Constitution provides that “ no decision shall be rendered by any court without expressing therein clearly and distinctly the facts and the law on which it is based.”

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RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED Criminal Due Process Sec. 14. (1) No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law. Criminal due process requires that the accused be tried by an impartial and competent court in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law and with proper observanceof all the rights accorded him under the Constitution and applicable statutes. Accordingly, to illustrate, denial from him of the right to preliminary investigation, as required by law, will constitute a denial of due process. Custodial Investigation Sec. 12. (1) Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain in silent and to have competent and independent counsel preferably of his own choice. If the person cannot afford the services of counsel, he must be provided with one. These rights cannot be waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel. (2) No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which vitiate the free will shall be used against him. Secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado, or other similar forms of detention are prohibited. (3) Any confession of admission obtained in violation of this or Section 17 hereof shall be inadmissible in evidence against him. (4) The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for violations of this section as well as compensation to and rehabilitation of victims of torture or similar practices, and their families. Custodial investigation means any “questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way.”