Mandaue City Jail inmates arrive at the Hall of Justice where they were ushered into two buses that house mobile courts. In one of these buses, Supreme Court deputy administrator Hon. Jenny Lind Delorino observes as Mandaue City Executive Judge Mercidita D. Ygnacio (seated right) conducts a hearing for one of the inmates.
CDN Photos/Junjie Mendoza
JUSTICE ON WHEELS IN MANDAUE
Five years after he was jailed on homicide charges, 67-year-old Abraham Bulambao walked out of a Mandaue City Jail a free man yesterday.
Bulambao can thank the Enhanced Justice on Wheels (EJOW) program which the Supreme Court delivered through two buses that served as mobile courts at the Mandaue City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
About 100 cases filed at the Mandaue City RTC were settled during the EJOW program, and one of the beneficiaries is Bulambao, a native of Bogo City.
Bulambao recounted that he was looking after an 800-sq-m lot when he was attacked by two unidentified persons, one of whom he killed in self-defense.
For five years, he languished in jail since his lawyer didn’t show up to attend hearings.
Bulambao said he missed his family terribly and endured sleeping inside a cramped, filthy cell he shared with dozens of inmates.
“Mao pasalamat na lang gyud ko sa ani nga programaha kay makakita na gyud ko sa akong pamilya (That’s why I am thankful for this program because I can see my family again),” Bulambao said.
Bulambao is among the 1,840 inmates in Mandaue City Jail, located near the Land Transportation Office (LTO) Mandaue City branch, in Barangay Looc.
Supreme Court administrator Jose Midas Marquez, deputy court administrator Jenny Lind Delorino and Mandaue City RTC Executive Judge Mercidita Dadole-Ygnacio opened the half-day program with a ribbon-cutting in front of one of two buses used as court and mediation room for the Justice on Wheels.
“If you terminate these criminal and civil cases, they are out of the judicial system already. This will help decongest cases in our courts and we have only three branches in Mandaue City that are overloaded with cases,” Marquez said.
Marquez said five additional judges will be assigned at the Mandaue City Regional Trial Court and four more judges will be assigned to the Lapu-Lapu City RTC next week.
The Justice on Wheels program will be held at the Lapu-Lapu City RTC today.
Marquez said the EJOW facilitated the release of 10,000 inmates and resolved 10,000 civil cases.
Supt. Renante Rubio, Mandaue City Jail warden, said the program helped decongest their already overcrowded jail which could accommodate only 119 inmates.
About 75 percent of the 1,840 inmates face drug charges.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu chapter also gave free legal consultation and provided medical personnel to conduct checkups on Mandaue City Jail inmates.