In September 2005 a regional trial court judge was killed in her house in Natividad, Pangasinan. Police identified two suspects, but a judge dismissed the case and did not issue arrest warrants against the two for lack of probable cause. In January police arrested six suspects for the December 2005 murder of a Pasay City regional trial court judge; their trial was on-going at year’s end. Trials in the 2004 killings of two judges were also underway at year’s end, and prosecutors filed charges in the third case. Ten cases of the killing of judges remained under investigation at year’s end.
The national court system consists of four levels: local and regional trial courts; a national court of appeals divided into seventeen divisions; a 15-member Supreme Court; and an informal local system for arbitrating or mediating certain disputes outside the formal court system. The Sandiganbayan, the government’s anticorruption court, hears criminal cases brought against senior officials. A Shari’a (Islamic law) court system, with jurisdiction over domestic and contractual relations among Muslim citizens, operates in some Mindanao provinces.
Trial Procedures
The law provides that those accused of crimes be informed of the charges against them, have the right to counsel, and be provided a speedy and public trial before a judge. Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to confront witnesses against them, to present evidence, and to appeal convictions. The authorities respected the right of defendants to be represented by a lawyer, but poverty often inhibited a defendant’s access to effective legal representation. Skilled defense lawyers staffed the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), but their workload was large and resources were scarce. The PAO provides legal representation for all indigent litigants at trial; however, during arraignment, courts may at their option appoint any lawyer present in the courtroom to provide counsel to the accused.
According to the law, cases should be resolved within set time limits once submitted for decision: 24 months for the Supreme Court; 12 months for the Court of Appeals; and three months for lower courts. However, these time limits are not mandatory, and, in effect, there were no time limits for trials.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. In 2005 the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the Supreme Court released a study that found that the average trial takes over three years. Trials take place in short sessions over time and as witnesses become available; these non-continuous sessions created lengthy delays. Furthermore, there was a widely recognized need for more prosecutors, judges, and courtrooms. Judgeship vacancy rates were high; of the total 2,152 trial court judgeships (including Shari’a courts), 628 (29 percent) were vacant, a small decline from 2005. Courts in Mindanao and other poorer provinces had higher vacancy rates than the national average. Shari’a court positions were particularly difficult to fill because of the requirement that applicants be members of both the Shari’a Bar and the Integrated Bar. All five Shari’a district court judgeships and 41 percent of circuit court judgeships remained vacant. Shari’a courts do not have criminal jurisdiction.
The NPA continued to subject military personnel, police, local politicians, and other persons to its so-called courts for “crimes against the people.” The NPA executed some of these “defendants.” The Moro Islamic Liberation Front also maintained similar “people’s courts.”
In the past, international and domestic NGOs criticized many court proceedings that resulted in death sentences, asserting that the judicial system did not ensure due process and legal representation. On June 24, the government formally abolished the death penalty.
Political Prisoners
Various human rights NGOs maintained lists of incarcerated persons they alleged to be political prisoners. Through December, the TFDP said that there were 233 political prisoners. Typically, there was no distinction in these lists between detainees and prisoners, and the majority of persons listed have not been convicted. Some NGOs asserted that it was frequent practice to make politically motivated arrests of persons for common crimes and to continue to detain them after their sentences expired. The government used NGO lists as one source of information in the conduct of its pardon, parole, and amnesty programs, but it did not consider the persons listed to be political detainees or prisoners. The CPP/NPA demanded that their members under detention by the PNP or AFP be treated as political prisoners as one of the preconditions for resuming peace talks with the government.
Extrajudicial Killings, Terrorism
