UNBEARABLE WORKLOAD. Court dockets and paperwork fill the records room of the Iloilo City Provincial Office. Prosecutors expressed their frustration at the amount of workload their office has to take in. (Photo by Kaya Guillen)

The Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office is currently functioning with only 14 prosecutors out of the mandated 24, resulting in fatigued fiscals and backlogged court dockets.

“May mga appointments man kami, pero may gaguwa man [sa office]. Ang iban gajudge and ang iban garetire. May garefill pero very few. For the past 10 years siguro, very undermanned kami,” said Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor Atty. Ma Elena Hofileña-Gerochi.

Currently, the 14 prosecutors work through cases assigned to 25 Regional Trial Courts (RTC), 14 Municipal Circuit Trial Courts (MCTC), and six Municipal Trial Courts (MTC).

Gerochi stressed that the current number of prosecutors are not enough for the workload coming in from 45 courts. “The workload is overwhelming, and the prosecutors are overworked and totally stressed out. Our health is suffering. Most of us are sick or what we call, under the weather because of the unbearable workload. So, stretched to the limits na kami. The quality of service is low, and output is low. Morale is also low,” she said.

The Prosecution Service Act of 2010 (RA10071) outlines that there should be two prosecutors for every branch of RTC, one for every branch of MTCC, and one for two branches of MTC or MCTC.

The 24 prosecutor posts mandated for Iloilo is stated in the Prosecution Service Act which was enacted in 2010. Since then, several new courts have been added to the province.

The Prosecution Service Act also posits that whenever new courts are added, the number of prosecutor posts in an office will also increase. The mandated number for Iloilo, however, remains at 24 despite the new court additions.

This causes fiscals to cover four or five courts, instead of one or two as mandated by law, Gerochi said.

She added that because they oversee the province of Iloilo, their prosecutors travel as far as 120km from the office to attend hearings.

“When you are exhausted after mo hearing te hearing mo damo damo, pagka puli mo sa hapon, you are too exhausted to drive. You would rather not bring your car. Even if you travel three times a week lang, that takes a toll on your body,” she stated when asked whether or not her prosecutors commute or travel by private vehicle.

Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Atty. Ronel Sustituya said that in a week, he travels to four different courts because he is in-charge of RTC Branch 36 located in the Iloilo Hall of Justice, RTC Branch 66 located in Barotac Viejo, MTC Oton, and MCTC San Miguel.

He pointed out that if he were to handle only one court, for example Branch 66, he would be able to finish his case assignments more efficiently.

“Te galing paano ko na ka hearing everyday kay taga Huwebes lang ko to ma hearing. Ngaa man? Kay kung Lunes, didto naman ko sa Oton. Kung Martes, didto naman ko sa 36, sa drugs [court].
Kung Miyerkules, didto naman ko sa San Miguel. Kung Biyernes, ma duty naman ko di. Therefore, Huwebes lang ko to maka hearing nga kung tani everyday na siya. Te kung everyday, taga adlaw may apat ka lang nga mabuhin, maubos gid na ya ang kaso. Te by the time nga pag-abot mo to, may na pile naman kami nga damo kay tungod nga kulang,” Sustituya explained.

Aside from affecting efficiency, the lack of prosecutors also affects the quality of work, Gerochi argued. “Kay when we resolve, hindi na namon mahatagan resolution. Mag hearing kami, we cannot even meet our witnesses anymore. We meet the witnesses in court, during hearing and during presentation,” she added.

Gerochi stated that usually, prosecutors are not able to meet witnesses for cases in order to discuss what they are supposed to say in hearings beforehand because of pending duties like inquests and hearings in other courts.

This is concerning because most of the clients that the office caters to are indigent and do not have the money to afford a private attorney, she explained.

“It’s not because the prosecutors are lazing or unskilled but because they are overworked. They are just so tired. Amo lang gid na ya,” Gerochi pointed out.

Sustituya expressed frustration at the current situation, “At the end of the day, silutan ako sini. Although gin show mo ang goodness mo, ang tanan mo nga effort, pero silutan ka gid na, ngaa haw? Kay may backlog ka, may mga delay ka. Although it is impractical nga matapos mo siya. Makita mo man kami da kanday boss. Wala kami absent. Ara man kami. […] So kami tanan amo man na amon nga [wish] sa mind, nga maubos ni namon. Indi man maubos gali ah. No amount of effort nga maubos.”

Gerochi stated that she lobbied for adding additional prosecutor positions in their office. “I went to Manila but I was turned down by the personnel department of DOJ because they said DBM will not fund additional [prosecutor positions] because our existing [prosecutor positions are] not filled up. What can we do about that?,” she relayed.

Currently, the DOJ has put the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office under the GOJUST program in order to help decongest the case backlogs. “This is implemented on selected prosecution offices. Other prosecutors from other offices help us. Iloilo City only helps us in appearing in court. But other offices like Bacolod, Aklan, Roxas, Capiz, other provinces in Region 6 are helping us in resolving the backlog of cases pending in our office,” Gerochi explained.

Gerochi, however, believes that this is only a band-aid solution because without the addition of new prosecutors, new cases will become backlog. /Kaya Guillen/ University of the Philippines Visayas