De Lima bill to streamline procedures in preliminary probes

MANILA, Philippines – In a bid to expedite the disposition of cases in the country, Sen. Leila de Lima has filed a bill that would streamline the procedures in preliminary investigations.

De Lima lamented that cases languish in courts for an average of eight to 10 years and many of the delays occur at the preliminary investigation stage.

“The ideal period for resolving cases is only one to two years. This is why I filed the criminal investigation bill, to address another bottleneck in the justice system,” De Lima said.

Senate Bill 369 filed by De Lima seeks to repeal Republic Act 5180, which provides for the uniform system for procedure of preliminary investigation.

De Lima said that the investigator and prosecutor should always work hand-in-hand to ensure more efficient investigation, prosecution and litigation of cases.

Under the bill, investigating prosecutors, upon their careful assessment, can immediately endorse cases to courts, thus removing additional proceedings that only delay the process.

“The criminal investigation bill that I propose is a holistic approach with systemic and procedural solutions. If passed, we should be able to reduce the time a case is resolved,” De Lima said.

“The criminal justice system in the Philippines has systemic problems. I hope that by clearly spelling out their tasks, there will be no need for different manuals on criminal procedures which add to the confusion and delay,” she added.

In a related development, De Lima lauded the Supreme Court’s move to assign 240 courts to expedite the resolution of cases involving illegal drug activities.

With the Duterte administration engaged in an all-out war against illegal drugs, De Lima said that the move of the Supreme Court would significantly reduce the bottlenecks in the justice system.

“The Supreme Court’s decision paves the way for expeditious delivery of justice. The volume of workload will be significantly reduced and cases will hopefully be resolved at a sooner time,” De Lima said. 

“Now we need more lawyers to handle these drug cases. I’m confident that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II would appoint without delay more prosecutors and public lawyers to meet the demands of the 955 courts,” she added.