DoJ reports more resolved petitions for review in 2019
THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ) resolved more petitions for review in 2019 compared to recent years, officials reported. Assistant Secretary Neal Vincent M. Bainto said the DoJ cleared up 2,350 petitions for review last year, more than four times the 556 in 2018 and 36% higher than the 1,727 also in 2018. Mr. Bainto explained that the monitoring of petitions being resolved started after the implementation of an information system in 2016. The increase in resolution of cases was partly due to the decongestion project launched in 2019, according to Undersecretary and DoJ spokesman Markk L. Perete. He noted that there were “around 13,000 to 14,000 unsolved petitions for review” in 2016 before the change of administration. Of the resolved petitions in 2019, 300 came from the decongestion project, he said. Mr. Perete said more petitions are expected to be resolved this year. “But again, the decongestion project was launched sometime late this (2019) year so would see probably an increase of the number of cases resolved, cases filed prior 2016 which will be resolved by this leadership,” he told reporters in December. A petition for review is filed before the Office of the Secretary to appeal resolutions of state prosecutors in cases under preliminary investigation or reinvestigation. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
