Exploring opportunities of participation In the administration of justice: Special focus on reported cases of persons deprived of liberty without having been charged or arraigned at the Manila City Jail

• Main Author: Fabian, Jocelyn T.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Justice, Administration of—Philippines; Prisoners—Legal status, laws, etc.—Philippines; Criminal procedure—Philippines; Criminal Procedure; Law; Rule of Law
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6087; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/13070/viewcontent/CDTG004693_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Philippines as a democratic country upholds the rule of law and guarantees the freedoms of its people, without discrimination as to religion, gender, race, politics or wealth.14 Its judicial systems and recent judicial reforms are made models by many countries,15 its independent Supreme Court does “not shrink from the responsibility --nay, the duty --to set aside all obstacles to the fortification of every citizen’s constitutionally enshrined rights. Yet, even given these Constitutional guarantees of speedy trial and due process and the judicial procedures in place to ensure these are effected, we hear reports of how our city and municipal jails are populated with detainees and prisoners languishing in jail without having been officially charged and arraigned or whose stay already exceed the maximum penalties for their offenses. And the poorer among us seemed to be the worst affected and afflicted. So the question is – what may a citizen or groups of concerned citizens do to better participate in this quest for due process and justice, particularly for persons already deprived of liberty without having been accordingly charged or arraigned in court?