‘Justice on Wheels’ frees 120 prisoners

TAGUM CITY, Philippines—Christmas came early to some 120 inmates of various prison facilities in Southern Mindanao as the Supreme Court’s Justice on Wheels dismissed the charges against them.

Justice on Wheels is a program started by then Chief Justice Hilario Davide following a 2004 trip to Guatemala, where such a program was successful in declogging courts of cases.

On Monday, the JOW judges were able to decide on 86 calendared cases from three regional trial courts and a circuit trial court in Compostela Valley, according to Nimfa Vilches, deputy court administrator of the Supreme Court.

Seventy-two detainees were freed from detention after the judges decided in their favor, she said.

Although most cases involved light offenses, Vilches said she expected to see a handful of drug-related cases decided upon after the completion of the Davao schedule.

“Most of the cases related to violation of Republic Act 9165 that could qualify with the JOW were offenses that have weak or insufficient evidence,” she said.

Vilches said during JOW’s Davao del Norte hearings on Wednesday that 68 cases were also decided upon, freeing 48 prisoners.

The JOW was also scheduled to conduct hearings in other areas of the region, she said.

Vilches said that like its Guatemalan model, the country’s JOW was becoming a success.

Since its relaunch in 2008, JOW has freed 5,303 prisoners, conducted 5,747 rounds of mediation in civil suits and given free legal aid to 2,514 indigent clients, she said.

“JOW is here to stay to help decongest our courts. As the World Bank, one of our benefactors, puts it, JOW is justice express so we want to help in the speedy disposition of cases especially in areas where courts are badly needed,” Vilches said.

On Monday, World Bank officials will observe the conduct of the JOW in Bohol “to try to find out if they should continue helping us,” Vilches said.

The bank has donated six buses to the JOW project. –Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao