COTABATO CITY –The local chief executive here has criticized the seemingly “lukewarm” prosecution in court of illegal drug offenders in the city, asserting it may embolden criminals to further commit wrongdoings.
During Wednesday’s quarterly meeting of the Cotabato City Peace and Order Council (CCPOC) here, Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi lauded the good performance of law enforcement unit for a job well in the field but mentioned a so-called “dis-connectivity” in the implementation of the five pillars of the criminal justice system in the city.
“We are all aware of the justice system in the Philippines. These are law enforcement, prosecution, the courts, the penal system and the community itself, Guiani-Sayadi said, adding that she is particularly critical to the second pillar, which is prosecution, for dis-connectivity on the criminal justice system here.
“There have been a number of incidents wherein the criminal cases filed by our law enforcers before the City Prosecutor’s Office (CPO) are expeditiously dismissed and disposed,” the mayor said, adding that ”I say ‘expeditiously’ because the dismissal and disposition of the cases were faster than the time it took for the law enforcer to implement the arrest of the criminal.”
She said the main reason of the CPO in dismissing the case is technicality. With this, the mayor has called on the Department of Justice to act on correcting loopholes in the prosecution of drug-related cases to avoid obstruction in the conviction of offenders.
“In this regard, I am calling to all, not only the law enforcers, not only the victims of these criminals, but everybody to immediately act so as to correct this dis-connectivity in our criminal justice system before things would be too late for us,” Guiani-Sayadi said.
The CPO is yet to issue a statement on the mayor’s CCPO speech.
This developed as the city mayor formally accepted on same event the assignment of 117 neophyte cops as part of their instruction under the Field Training Program.
The Police Regional Office -12 would deploy the new batch of policemen, all with the rank of Police Officer 1, to various parts of Maguindanao and this city during the duration of their 5-6 month Field Training Officer (FTO) course.
Sr. Supt. Rolly Octavio, city police director, said the FTOs assigned here would actively participate in curbing criminalities, particularly on the war against illegal drugs.
Police records and that from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM) indicated 2, 704 drug suspects in Central Mindanao, some 400 of whom are from Maguindanao.
“After validation though, we are currently concentrating on 85 dug suspects in Maguindanao and 10 from Cotabato City,” Asnawi Salik, PDEA-ARMM acting spokesperson, said in his CCPO report.
Although not part of ARMM, the PDEA-ARMM includes this city in its area of jurisdiction. The ARMM comprises the cities of Marawi and Lamitan, and the provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Basilan and Lanao del Sur. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
