A total of 1,537 new prosecutors and prosecution attorneys is needed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to speed up the resolution of complaints and court cases which, for the past six years, have totalled more than 1.1 million.

The opening of the new prosecutorial posts was made known after Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman signed on Friday, Oct. 6, the DOJ-DBM Joint Circular on the Staffing Standards and Guidelines for the Prosecution Offices of the Department of Justice.

“As gate keepers of criminal justice it is vital that the country’s prosecutional services be sufficiently empowered and equipped with an adequate workforce to pursue the investigation and prosecution of criminal behavior,” Remulla said during the signing ceremony at the DOJ.

“By increasing their ranks we can fortify the justice system, expedite the resolution of cases and ensure that justice is served,” he explained.

With the joint circular, Remulla said “we expect an additional 1,173 prosecutors and 364 prosecution attorneys to augment our prosecution offices throughout the country.”

Prior the signing of the joint circular, Prosecutor General Benedicto A. Malcontento noted the DOJ’s National Prosecution Service (NPS) is authorized to fill up only 2,771 posts for prosecutors and 250 posts for prosecution attorneys.

As of Sept. 30, 2023, Malcontento said the NPS has 2,466 prosecutors and 204 prosecution attorneys.

Secretary Pangandaman, on the other hand, called the joint circular “a crucial step towards strengthening and rationalizing the National Prosecution Services or NPS  across the country.”

“Para siguraduhin tuloy-tuloy ang serbisyo para sa ating prosecution offices sa buong bansa naglaan po tayo ng kabuuang P6.8 billion na pondo sa ilalim ng panukalang national budget para sa susunod na taon (To ensure that the services provided by our prosecution offices nationwide continues, we allotted P6.8 billion in funds under the proposed national budget for next year),” Pangandaman said.

“Meanwhile, the whole Department of Justice, we will provide a total of P34.5 billion which covers key programs of its attached agencies including the implementation of the law enforcement program, prisoners custody and safekeeping program, border control and management program, crime detection and investigation program, and public legal assistance program,” the budget secretary said. 

Remulla said the signing of the joint circular is timely. “With a total court dockets reaching 1.1 million cases for the past six years, our public prosecutors are deluged, if not overburdened by an ever increasing case load that has inversely impacted our 246 prosecution offices nationwide,” he said. 

“The rising criminal cases demands a proportional increase in the number of public prosecutors,” he pointed out. 

“By bolstering the number of public prosecutors we can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our criminal justice system, ensuring that cases are handled expeditiously and with attention they deserve,” he said.  

He also said that the increases in the number of prosecutors and prosecution attorneys is needed as "there are threats looming over the horizon that would soon require more and specialized public prosecutors.”

“Criminals have become increasingly sophisticated utilizing advanced technology and intricate networks to perpetrate their nefarious deeds. These include urgent threats posed by international trafficking organizations and transnational criminals including those acting in behalf of criminal enterprises who are now turning to the largely unregulated cyberspace to commit and conceal their crimes such as human trafficking, online sexual exploitation of children and all sorts of cyber scams,” he said. 

"To combat this evolving criminal landscape we must deploy more public prosecutors with a deep understanding of the legal nuances, digital forensics and investigative techniques," he stressed.