SC to create committee to help

CEBU, Philippines - To address jail congestion in Cebu, court administrator Midas Marquez said the Supreme Court is mulling on organizing a committee that will be composed of judges, which will monitor all cases in Cebu.

“We successfully do it in Manila and we would like to duplicate it in Cebu,” he said.

Marquez visited the Mandaue City Jail on Thursday afternoon and saw this scenario – at least 1,041 inmates crowding in different cells, which were supposedly constructed to house 77 inmates only.

Marquez said the creation of the committee will also help enforce the rights of the accused persons to bail and to speedy trial.

He said that after the petition for bail for a certain suspect is known, the presiding judge has 48 hours to render a decision whether to deny or grant the said petition.

Lawyer Roy Valenzuela, officer-in-charge of the legal services of the Bureau of Management and Penology, admitted during a forum on Justice Stakeholders for Jail Decongestion in Cebu that jail overcrowding is one of the challenges in jail management.

“Jail congestion is lack of living space, no effective classification of inmates and lack of functional space for visits of families, visitors, officials and private service providers,” he bared.

Valenzuela said they have to face other challenges such as dilapidated jails, resource constraints or inadequate staff, lack of equipment and insufficient budget for jail improvements, and inmate welfare projects.

According to him, the actual ratio should be one inmate to one escort plus supervisor, but because of insufficient personnel, the current scenario is two inmates per escort.

Aside from these challenges, Valenzuela said there have been increases in the security and health risks among inmates, jail staff, families, communities and court staff.

In Mandaue City Jail, city health officer Dr. Edna Seno said they are trying to address the issue on health risk inside the jail facility. In fact, she said they had opened a room for tuberculosis in the facility where three nurses are being assigned.

Marquez said programs like Justice on Wheels and Judgment Day also seek to address the problem on overcrowding in jails, but the guidelines and reforms SC are now considering can add to the solution. —/NSA (FREEMAN)