DOJ set to hire 1,000 more prosecutors

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) needs around 1,000 more prosecutors to fill the vacancies in the National Prosecution Service (NPS).

“We need something like a thousand more,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said yesterday.

The Office of the President is currently processing about 500 nominations for posts at the NPS, Guevarra said, as the DOJ continuously screens applicants.

“We are just waiting for the President’s signature. They are slowly releasing the names of the new prosecutors. So I hope that will be coming,” he said.

This came on the heels of the DOJ’s ongoing bid to address its case backlog that reached more than 14,000 that have accumulated even before the Duterte administration.

The DOJ created teams of undersecretaries and prosecutors to see through the case backlog last August. At least 4,000 cases have accumulated since President Duterte was sworn into office in 2016.

DOJ-NPS Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento, in his address before the Prosecutors League of the Philippines (PLP) last Monday, said he has discussed the matter of prosecutor shortage with Guevarra. 

The NPS, he said, is eyeing a “one prosecutor for one court room” ratio, amid the current situation wherein a prosecutor is burdened with two or more courtrooms.

He cited, as an example, areas in Region 6 where there is a case of six prosecutors assigned to 41 courts.

Aside from their regular investigative and prosecutorial functions, provincial and city prosecutors are deputized by the Offices of the Solicitor General and Ombudsman, as ex officio legal counsels of local government units, serve as the vice chair of the election board of canvassers and sometimes act as local Register of Deeds.

During elections, NPS members also serve in the provincial, district, city and municipal boards of canvassers.

Malcontento said the NPS would prioritize filling vacancies in areas where there is a big disparity in the ratio between the number of courtrooms and prosecutors.