Convictions = Judicial Reform (?)

PNoy wants higher conviction rate
by Ma. Aleta Nieva Nishimori, abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 11/04/2011 7:00 PM | Updated as of 11/04/2011 7:00 PM


MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said efforts are being done to ensure that reforms in the judicial system are being made.

“We’re trying our best to really reform the judicial system. That's actually was my direct promise to our people,” he said.

“Towards that end, what are the things that we have discovered? For instance, in our country, it takes 6 years to adjudicate any case and in some of the more controversial cases, they take decades to resolve,” Aquino said.

Aquino answered the question posed by Maike Grabowski of EPJUST or the European Union-Philippine Justice Support Program during the YouTube Worldview live interview.

Grabowski’s asked: “How will you ensure donors and to your people that this time, under your leadership, all the relevant line agencies and government will move towards justice reform?”

She said the EU, through the EJUST program, provided substantial funding in 2010 and 2011 to enhance the capacity and effectiveness of the Philippine criminal justice system in investigating, prosecuting and bringing to justice the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

She said impunity still prevails in the Philippines, and one of the hindrances to the effective implementation of the program was the refusal of some authorities to cooperate.

More convictions

In the interview, Aquino said he had directed the Department of Justice to reform the prosecutorial system “wherein convictions have to be the primary criteria for having done your job or not”.

“None of our efforts will amount to anything if we are not able to convict anybody. If anybody can commit any crime with impunity, then there is no disincentive to stop them from doing so. Hence, there has to be that conviction,” said Aquino.

As to extra-judicial killings, Aquino said “that is not a policy of our government and our administration”.

See:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/04/11/pnoy-wants-higher-conviction-rate