DOJ finds liability in 52 cases of police anti-drug operations

According to Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will soon finish its review of 52 cases of police anti-drug operations wherein administrative charges may be filed.

“We are about to wind up with the review of 52 cases turned over to us by the PNP-IAS (Philippine National Police-Internal Affairs Service), and if time will permit, we will also take a look at the more than 6,000 cases which are also investigated by the PNP-IAS but where the respondents were exonerated for insufficiency of evidence,” Guevarra said on Wednesday at the pre-State of the Nation Address forum.

Guevarra also said that the DOJ “has achieved significant improvements across our performance indices” in the past five years.

He cited the rate of disposition of cases by the justice department’s National Prosecution Service, which “stood at an all-time high of 91.19%” in 2020, up from 87.23% in 2016.   

Guevarra added that the department’s conviction rate in trial courts has more than doubled to 49.46% in 2020 from 20.4% in 2016—he was appointed as secretary in 2018 when it was 41.74%.

On the whole, it’s hard to say whether this is a good thing. Does a higher conviction rate mean a better justice system or that more people are committing crimes? Why are people turning to drugs in the first place? Food for thought!

SOURCE: Business World