Wanted: Fiscals for Ormoc

ORMOC CITY, Philippines – With cases piling up, Malacañang has been asked to appoint more fiscals here.

The lack of prosecutors has resulted in clogged dockets and congested jails, said city prosecutor Marcelo Oñate, who has been handling all cases since 2013.

There is also no assistant prosecutor assigned to Oñate’s office after two of his assistants became judges in 2013.

Oñate said there are 440 cases pending in the city court and an estimated 1,200 cases in the two regional trial courts.

There are more than 300 inmates at the city jail, and more than a hundred at the sub-provincial jail and detention facilities, he added.

Aside from resolving inquests and ordinary cases filed at his office, Oñate said he also has also been appearing in court hearings.

In his Facebook post on Jan. 24, Oñate said he hopes President Aquino would sign the appointment of new assistant city prosecutors next month.

“After almost three years of vacancy. I am left home alone…as vacancies for Prosecutors II and I are never filled up,” he said.

Joy Mejia-Romero, president of the Occidental Leyte Bar Association, said Malacañang should appoint new city fiscals before the election ban.