Bacolod courts dispose of 2,900 cases in 2017

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – A total of 2,915 cases filed in 14 Regional Trial Courts here have been resolved since last year.

Of the total, 2,222 were criminal cases including illegal drug charges, court records showed, while 693 were civil complaints, special proceedings and cadastral cases.

RTC Branch 54 of Judge Eduardo Sayson has the highest disposal rate with 292 cases resolved, followed by RTC Branch 48 of Judge Rosario Ester Orda Caise with 279 and RTC Branch 50 of Judge Estefanio Libutan Jr with 265.

In 2017, 1,025 criminal cases were filed and are still pending in court. 

There are currently 10 incumbent judges. Four retired in 2017 and early this year. 

Active drug cases

Since January 2017, a total of 978 active drug cases are yet to be resolved in different courts of Bacolod.

Court records showed that RTC Branch 45 under Judge Phoebe Balbin had the most number of drug cases with 188 charges being tried. 

RTC Branch 48 and RTC Branch 46 of Judge Edgar Tupas have 169 and 115 drug cases, respectively. 

Only RTC Branch 47 under Judge Therese Blanche Bolunia and RTC Branch 52 under Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier were originally designated as drugs court.

In September 2016, the Supreme Court (SC) issued a circular in September 2016, ordering the raffling of all drug cases to general jurisdictional courts. This is to give time for the drug courts to dispose of all the cases being tried under their jurisdiction. 

For 2017, Javier disposed of 253 drug cases, with 153 for Bolunia.

Javier earlier noted that the number of drug cases in the courts of Bacolod shot up since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in July 2016. – Rappler.com