Suspected NPAs to be first in video conferencing trial

MANILA, Philippines — Several alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who ambushed military personnel in 2014 and a man facing frustrated murder in a Davao City court would be the first persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to sample criminal trial via videoconferencing — an innovative method that aims to reduce risks on security, lives and health that is set to kick-off on pilot test today.

Supreme Court (SC) Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez yesterday said it is “all systems go” for the first criminal trial to be conducted in the Philippines through videoconferencing in Davao City.

To make sure everyone will be on the same page for this innovation, SC Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta and Marquez conducted a training seminar for Davao City judges, prosecutors, lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) and jail wardens from the Davao City District Jail.

 A demonstration was done in the sala of Davao City Regional Trial Court executive judge Emmanuel Carpio and in a hearing room inside the Davao City District Jail. Both the courtroom and the hearing room were equipped with TV monitors, speakers and high definition cameras, and linked by radio frequency through the towers put up in the Hall of Justice and the City Jail. 

“As of now, only one courtroom is equipped (for videoconferencing). The other two are still going to be equipped, so three hearings can go on simultaneously,” Marquez said.

 In a statement, the SC said that this innovative method would do away with transporting a PDL from jail to the courtroom and back.

Videoconferencing, it added, aims to reduce, if not totally eliminate, “the serious risks to the safety, security, lives and health of not only the accused and those charged with transporting them between the jail and court, but of judges, court officers and personnel, and the general public as well.”

It also aims to eliminate transportation and travel costs, and increase efficiency in court proceedings since the PDLs and witnesses can appear remotely.