Kidapawan trial judge assures no more delays in case promulgation

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- A trial judge here has assured those facing criminal and civil cases that never again that his court would issue promulgation after 10 to 12 years.Judge Arvin Sadiri Balagot of the Regional Trial Court branch 17 expressed this after he issued last week a promulgation of one of the most celebrated murder cases in North Cotabato.Balagot admitted it took the court 12 years before it issued promulgation on the murder of a Filipino-Chinese trader in Kidapawan City.On April 27, Judge Balagot declared guilty beyond reasonable doubt the three former policemen and three gun-for-hire and meted them reclusion perpetua as penalty for their participation in the crime.It was not Balagot who first handled the case in 2006. There were at least three trial court judges before the case was handed in his sala in 2013. Factors for delay There were several factors for the delay, he said.One of which was the availability of the prosecutors who were all based in Manila.Also, there were several lawyers involved in the hearing who all had different schedules.At that time, the city has only two RTCs and the judge was also working as acting judge in other sala. New innovations in judiciary Matagal nga ‘yun. 12 years. But there is good news. May mga innovations na ang judiciary system para mapabilis ang takbo ng mga kaso, said Balagot.In Kidapawan City, there are already three RTCs and each court has a judge. We don’t have an acting judge here in Kidapawan, kaya mabilis na ang takbo ng mga kaso, he stressed.Balagot said that in his sala, he has at least a thousand cases, mostly drug-related. He expects a 50 percent reduction of these cases in the coming months. Every month, mas marami ang nadi-dispose nating kaso, kaysa sa pumapasok, he explained.There is a rule, he added, that a case should be resolved from 180 days to six months. Drug cases easily resolved Mas mabilis ‘pag drug cases. Pag drug cases kasi, ang judge sa pre-trial, dapat mag-render ng decision within 15 days. In other cases, 90 days, the judge said. On petition for bail Balagot assured that never again his sala would delay its decision on petitions for bail. Kasi, very summary ang hearing for the petition for bail. You have to rule the petition after 48 hours. In many instances nga, para hindi namin makalimutan ang petition, nire-resolba na namin ito after the hearing, he said.