RP CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM NOT HARSH ON DRUG VIOLATORS

REGIONAL Trial Court Branch 9 Judge Adoracion Avisado on Monday said the
criminal justice system of the Philippines is not harsh in dealing with
drug violators.

This is the reason why the drugs continue to be a menace in the society.

In an interview, Avisado cited the need for the government to make a
thorough review of the criminal justice system in order to put a stop to
the proliferation of the illegal drug trade in the country.

A policeman needs to secure an arrest warrant from the court before he can
arrest a person who violated the law, Adoracion said.

Arresting officers, she added, have a limited number of hours to detain
arrested persons.

"With the limited time, police are allowed to hold prisoners, policemen
will have weak pieces of evidence forcing the city prosecution office to
dismiss their drug cases," Avisado said.

"Based on the law, arresting officers are only given 48 hours to detain
prisoners otherwise they will be sued for arbitrary detention," she said.

Avisado added that in Japan, 99.5 percent of criminal cases filed resulted
to the indictment of the accused persons.

Avisado also stressed the need to improve the value system of Filipinos
aside from reforming our criminal justice system.

"The parents should not neglect their children, and the government on its
side should also solve the problems of society, like poverty," she said.

Assistant city prosecutor Danilo Belo echoed the same sentiment. He saw the
need to review our criminal justice system.

Belo cited as example that in the United States, a person who is arrested
for a crime can lead investigators to his other companions which would
eventually solve the problem while in the Philippines, an extra-judicial
confession of a prisoner without a counsel won't be honored in court, no
matter how factual and important that confession is.