Judicial affidavit rule and the public prosecutors

see  -  Supreme Court of the Philippines

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The Supreme Court En Banc, acting on the petition dated December 12, 2012 from the Prosecutors’ League of the Philippines (PLP) for the deferment of the effectivity of the Judicial Affidavit Rule for at least a year in criminal cases, resolved instead to modify the public prosecutors’ compliance therewith from January 1 to December 31, 2013, as follows:

For the purpose of complying with the Judicial Affidavit Rule, public prosecutors in the first-  and second-level courts shall use the sworn statements that the complainant and his or her witnesses submit during the initiation of the criminal action before the office of the public prosecutor or directly before the trial court. Upon presenting the witness, the attending public prosecutor shall require the witness to affirm what the sworn statement contains and may only ask the witness additional direct examination questions that have not been amply covered by the sworn statement.

The Court also clarified in its three-page unsigned resolution that the modified compliance does not apply to criminal cases where the complainant is represented by a duly empowered private prosecutor. The private prosecutor shall be charged in the applicable cases the duty to prepare the required judicial affidavits of the complainant and his or her witnesses and cause the service of the copies of the same upon the accused.

The Court acknowledged that 80% of the backlog in the first-and second-level courts involve criminal cases, and that delays in those cases are caused mainly by lack of prosecutors, absence of prosecution witnesses, and lack of PAO lawyers. It thus expressed its expectation that public prosecutors will use the one-year modified compliance period to take the necessary steps to seek the needed augmentation of their ranks and develop methods and systems that would enable them to fully comply with the requirements of the Judicial Affidavit Rule when the modified compliance period ends. The Court also stated that the Rule shall remain in full force and effect in all other cases and situations not covered by the resolution. (Unsigned Res., AM No 12-8-8-SC, Judicial Affidavit Rule, January 8, 2012)

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