MANILA, Philippines — More than 300 inmates were released from the Northern Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan City on Friday through the Enhanced Justice on Wheels Program (EJOW) of the Supreme Court (SC).
Court Administrator and SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the inmates were released after all their cases were resolved in simultaneous hearings conducted within the day.
“We are bringing the EJOW to different provinces in line with the directives of Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin to expedite the resolution of cases in the lower courts,” Marquez said.
The EJOW also resolved 200 more cases during the event.
The EJOW is a continuing nationwide program of the high tribunal, which has released some 12,000 inmates and settled more than 10,000 civil cases.
Launched in 2004, the EJOW was designed to decongest the country’s jails through simultaneous hearing of cases that range from as petty as vagrancy and domestic problems to as grave as homicide and murder. – John Unson