JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday reminded prosecutors to work with the police and other law enforcement authorities to boost cases after the department inked a Memorandum of Agreement with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines on the new rules for preliminary investigation.
The new rules under Department Order Circular No.15 signed by Remulla last July held that it is purely an executive function and under the sole and exclusive domain of the DOJ. It also raised the standard of proof in the filing of cases from probable cause to primate facie evidence with a reasonable certainty of conviction.
“Do not dismiss cases just like that. You need to make the policemen, the investigating law enforcement agents, come up with the evidence necessary para mapatibay mo ‘yung kaso (to solidify the case),” he said.
Remulla said this would help ensure that cases elevated to trial courts can result in conviction, rather than just filing cases for filing’s sake.
“Because if you file a weak case, you are just filing it and making the person hope that the accused would be convicted. But that would not happen because your evidence is weak or not complete,” he said.
IBP National President Antonio Pido said the MOA would help volunteer lawyers understand the new rules.
“This is very important for our volunteer lawyers since this is a new system. It will be difficult for our volunteer lawyers to handle cases and then it would just be dismissed,” he said.
Pido said the IBP, with its regional and provincial chapters, would help disseminate the new rules.
He also expressed gratitude to the DOJ for allowing the IBP to become the “vehicle” in disseminating the new rules to lawyers.
