SC allows the courts of first instance to decide on the request for the release of 22 prisoners during the pandemic

MANILA – The Supreme Court said Thursday that it would allow the lower courts to handle the appeal of 22 detainees to be released for humanitarian considerations during the coronavirus pandemic, a ruling that took 44 days to be made public.

The inmates had alleged in their petition that they were “among the elderly, sick and pregnant … exposed to the danger of contracting COVID-19,” the court’s Public Information Office (PIO) said.

The court, after initial deliberations, collectively determined that the petition “raised several complex issues that make the interaction of the applicable principles have far-reaching implications,” the information office said.

For example, all the petitioners were charged with crimes punishable by life imprisonment and were not entitled to bail, the office said.

Despite this, the Supreme Court was “unanimous” in treating the petition as “a request … for bail or acknowledgment, as well as motions for other practicable and adequate confinement agreements, in relation to the alleged threats to his health and lifetime”.

“Therefore, in order for the petitioners to be granted bail, it is imperative to hold hearings and receive evidence in order to weigh the strength of the prosecution’s evidence,” said the PIO.

“These procedures are within the jurisdiction of the courts of first instance,” he said.

The Supreme Court “is not the appropriate forum to air questions of fact, especially if they are presented for judgment in the first instance.”

BREAKAGE: The Supreme Court refers the petition of the prisoners seeking release on humanitarian grounds to the courts of first instance to be heard to determine the strength of the evidence. Request treated as request for bond or acknowledgment and other similar arrangements. https://t.co/gDPHwMP3Z9

– Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) September 10, 2020

The high court issued the ruling on July 28, 44 days before the information office confirmed it.

When asked about the delay, Supreme Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said the justices had to deliberate on “important and complex issues.” He said that he did not know what particular topics should be discussed.

“Perhaps it would be better for us to see the actual decision and, if there is any, the separate opinions of the judges,” he said.

The decision was not yet available to the media and petitioners at the time of this publication.

Among the petitioners is a 23-year-old woman who gave birth last July.

The Supreme Court proceedings were previously delayed by the fact that a judge did not return to Manila from Visayas due to blockades from the pandemic.