Strengthening the prosecution

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

A most welcome development as far as the country’s judiciary is concerned is the recent appointment by President Benigno Aquino III of almost 200 state, provincial and city prosecutors who will be assigned to various courts all over the country.

The announcement was made Monday by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who expressed her delight over the appointments that, she said, are badly needed in the delivery of prosecutorial and related services.

De Lima also expressed her thanks, on behalf of the National Prosecution Service, to the President “for finding time to strengthen the prosecution service despite the many problems besetting the country.”

Everybody is aware of how the lack of prosecutors has been affecting the delivery of justice in this country, where cases filed often take decades to be resolved, with the delay often occurring at the prosecutorial level. While everyone likes to mouth the bromide about “Justice delayed Justice denied”, that had become the norm as far as cases in this country are concerned.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that with all those newly appointed prosecutors getting to work, the wheels of justice will begin turning faster, and that the guilty will begin serving their penalties sooner, while the innocent will see their relief and freedom earlier.

The citizens of this country, therefore, can look forward to a more efficient and expeditious action on the thousands of cases that have been gathering dust in our courts when the new prosecutors begin acting on them.

In the meantime, let us hope that all these new prosecutors, or “fiscals” as they used to be called, do not betray their offices to that point in the past when some of their predecessors had been given the monicker of “fix-cals”, for obvious reasons. In the meantime, let us be grateful for this development that can, hopefully, clear the courts of their backlogs, and be able to administer justice speedily.*