The Supreme Court and the Philippine National Police on Tuesday launched the “Enhanced e-Warrant System” aimed to fully automate the issuance of arrest warrants by all courts for speedier and more effective service by law enforcement authorities.
Considered a first for the Philippine justice system, Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, together with newly-appointed PNP Chief Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, inaugurated the Enhanced e-Warrant System at the En Banc Session Hall of the Supreme Court yesterday.
Peralta said that the implementation of the Enhanced e-Warrant System will fully automate the issuance of arrest warrants by the courts for more effective service by law enforcement agents.
The chief justice said the new system, a timely response amid the COVID-19 pandemic, features an online database of warrants of arrest, providing real-time updates on the status of warrants and the specific actions taken by law enforcement agents.
“With the nationwide roll-out of the Enhanced e-Warrant System, we are able to adopt technologically-advanced innovations in our court processes for a more accessible, efficient, effective and responsive administration of justice,” Peralta said in a statement/
Through the coordinated efforts of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management Director, Police Major General Elmo Francis O. Sarona, and the Office of Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez, the first ever e-Warrant was issued on Tuesday by Presiding Judge Maria Gracia Cadiz-Casaclang of Pasig City Regional Trial Court, Branch 155, involving the case of qualified theft.
Expressing his all-out support for the Enhanced e-Warrant System, Cascolan said: “Central to my vision of leading a more reliable and credible police force is the improvement of crime solution efficiency. The Enhanced e-Warrant System in all courts and police stations will contribute in securing an ideal scale of effectiveness in crime solution.”
In a statement, the Supreme Court explained that following the determination of probable cause by the court, all mandatory details for the issuance of an arrest warrant are electronically encoded to and generated by the Enhanced e-Warrant system, for instantaneous transmission to the police station which has jurisdiction over the residence of the accused, and to the station which filed the complaint.
Upon receipt by the police stations of the e-Warrant, the concerned police officers have ten (10) days within which to provide feedback through the system on whether the e-Warrant was served, or in case of failure to serve, the reasons therefor.
“This real-time feedback mechanism is viewable by all the courts nationwide. All courts can also access the system to determine whether an accused has pending cases in other courts, effectively eliminating the delay in the release of an accused who may have the same or similar names,” Peralta said.
The inauguration paves the way for the nationwide roll-out of the Enhanced e-Warrant System to around 2,600 courts and 1,900 police stations all over the country.
To fully operationalize the e-Warrant system, the Supreme Court through the Office of the Court Administrator, and the PNP DIDM, will jointly conduct online regional trainings for the courts and police stations before it is implemented in a particular region.
Before the year ends, the full implementation of the Enhanced e-Warrant System is expected, after all courts and police stations have completed online trainings, the SC said.