Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 15) — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday said the country’s justice system may have some imperfections, but it is working.
This was Guevarra’s response to detained Senator Leila De Lima, a former justice secretary, who earlier lamented that the country’s justice system is broken.
“Despite the imperfections in our justice system, I would say that it works. Hindi naman talaga siya masasabing extremely or very efficient (We cannot say that it is extremely or very efficient), because no judicial or legal system is perfect,” said Guevarra in a press briefing.
“Dahil human creation ‘yan (It’s a human creation). It’s prone to manipulation, it’s prone to corruption. Not only in the Philippines, it happens almost everywhere else. It’s just a matter of degree,” he added.
Guevarra attributed the slow process in the justice system to the lack of manpower.
“Nagtutulungan naman tayo diyan, kaya nga lamang, because of the system itself, ay hindi masyadong efficient. We lack judges, we lack prosecutors, and so forth and so on. But we are doing our best,” he said.
[Translation: We are helping each other, but because of the system itself, it’s not that efficient. We lack judges, we lack prosecutors, and so forth and so on. But we are doing our best.]
Guevarra said his office submitted to Malacañang 500 appointments for the prosecution service, but some have yet to be appointed due to “lack of material time.”
The outgoing justice secretary credited President Rodrigo Duterte for appointing at least 1,700 new prosecutors.
“May kaunti pa kaming kulang. We are hoping that the incoming president will be able to complete yung natitira naming pending appointments,” said Guevarra.
[Translation: We still have a slight shortage. We are hoping that the incoming president will be able to complete our pending appointments.]
