Ambrosio Heyrosa had been detained at the Mandaue City Jail for nine years and three months after being caught with 0.01 grams of shabu in his possession.
He could have been released pending resolution of his case, but he didn’t have enough money to post bail.
The 50-year-old Heyrosa said there was a time when his case wasn’t heard in court for three years.
“In a year, my case is heard just once. And more often, the hearing is reset because the judge or the prosecutor is not around,” Heyrosa told reporters.
To speed up the resolution of cases, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu Chapter signed an agreement yesterday with a Manila-based organization for a sustainable program to decongest the Mandaue City Jail.
Records of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) showed that the Mandaue City Jail-Male Dormitory is the most congested detention facility in the entire Central Visayas.
Sustainable
It has 1,174 inmates in a facility designed for 95 inmates or a congestion rate of 1,136 percent.
Lack of trial courts to handle the mounting backlog of cases and the lack of funds to build larger detention facilities were blamed for the congestion.
IBP Cebu Chapter President Gonzalo Malig-on said jail visits of lawyers in previous years weren’t enough to address the concerns of inmates.
“There has to be a sustainable program to address jail congestion, particularly here in Mandaue City. Constant follow-ups of cases are really needed to solve the problem,” he said.
When he was elected IBP President last February, Malig-on vowed to focus on decongesting jails.
Collaboration
Malig-on said he decided to collaborate with the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation Inc. (HLAF), and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to create a sustainable program to decongest jails.
The one-year collaboration is a first of its kind in the Philippines.
An agreement was signed by the IBP, HLAF, and BJMP during a simple ceremony inside the Mandaue City Jail yesterday morning.
Under the agreement, the IBP will send 10 lawyers and 30 law students to follow up on 100 cases of inmates at the Mandaue City Jail.
HLAF will closely monitor the project and train students and paralegal volunteers to monitor the cases of these inmates.
HLAF will also collate the reports of deployed project and paralegal volunteers and refer them to government agencies for resolution.
Malig-on said the IBP hopes to expedite the release of 30 prisoners, conduct 100 case follow-ups and hold paralegal trainings for detainees and stakeholders in a year.
In Mandaue City, selected inmates have been trained to become paralegal volunteers.
These inmates will list the concerns of overstaying detainees and relay them to the BJMP’s paralegal officers.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
