The Supreme Court will investigate the issues raised by detainees of the Pampanga provincial jail, especially their complaint on the snail-paced resolution of their cases in the lower courts.
Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, who exercises supervision over trial court judges in the country, acknowledged that his office had received the letter of hundreds of detainees about the supposed “very slow setting of hearings in various courts and judges” handling their criminal cases.
“I have already instructed our Legal Office to look into the veracity of the allegations,” Marquez said in a text message Wednesday.
The Court administrator said there was a need to look into the complaint “more so now that the Supreme Court has come out with the Guidelines on Continuous Trial which is being pilot tested in some first- and second-level courts in the National Capital Judicial Region.”
In a three-page handwritten letter last Monday, the detainees told the high court that most of their cases are being heard by the regional trial courts only once a year while some of their cases have run for 10 to 15 years and still have no resolution up to this day.
The detainees said they have already sought relief from San Fernando, Pampanga regional trial court Executive Judge Divina Luz Simbulan “about our sorry condition here.”
“But she had no action…. We told her about our concerns but she just ignored us,” they said.
They reported to the high court that instead of addressing their problems, Judge Simbulan has interfered with the management by the jail warden.
“She is just muddling up the handling of the facility by our good jail warden because of her continuing pressure on us,” the detainees said.
The detainees from the 10 cells of the jail told the SC that they are still hoping to be cleared in their cases.
“Even if we are detainees, we still hope to start a brand new life with our families. But because of the slow justice system here, our hopes have been destroyed,” they lamented.
“We are hoping for your attention and immediate action, for the sake of our families,” they said.
Judge Simbulan is already in hot water after being charged with administrative and criminal cases before the SC by detained Globe Asiatique president Delfin Lee, who had accused her of extortion.