Trial courts will be required to conduct custodial hearings to determine if an accused in a criminal case can be placed under alternative modes of detention such as house arrest, hospital arrest, compassionate release for the elderly and critically ill, and furlough for pregnant and nursing women.

Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, during the opening ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 21, of the Second National Decongestion Summit at the Manila Hotel, said the Supreme Court (SC), as a full court, has started finalizing the rules on custodial hearings.

The conduct of custodial hearings by trial courts is an initiative under the SC’s five-year Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations (SPJI) that was launched in 2022.

Also, Gesmundo said that the SC is developing a manual and protocol in the handling of cases involving women in conflict with the law (WICLs).

He said the SC took into account that “gender-sensitive policies and gender-responsive facilities must be put in place to ensure the welfare of the more vulnerable PDLs.”

With the manual and protocol, he added that the justice system will be able to enhance the recognition and support to the gender-based rights of PDLs.

The Chief Justice recalled that custodial hearings by trial courts was brought up during the First National Decongestion Summit in 2023 conducted by the Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC) which is composed of the SC, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

He said that during the first summit, leaders of the pillars of the criminal justice system – law enforcement, prosecution, courts, correction or penology, and the community – “committed to undertake a whole-of-nation approach to decongest our country’s jail and correctional facilities.”

He recalled that since the first summit, the government has enhanced significant steps in better jail management, humane safekeeping of PDLs, and speedy delivery of responsive justice, especially for those whose lives and liberty depend on it.

One of the significant reforms instituted by the JSCC “is the continued establishment and strengthening of Justice Zones (JZs) in different localities around the country, which are envisioned to be ‘local pockets of efficiency’ with local justice sector units coordinating with each other to ensure delivery of justice real-time,” he added.

There are now 16 JZs nationwide.

The Chief Justice cited the recent final report on the review and assessment of the JZs conducted by the European Union Governance in Justice Program or GOJUST.

He said that 97 percent of stakeholders rated the Justice Zone model as “excellent” or “good,” and 85 percent perceived that the Justice Zones “meaningfully contributed to the resolution of justice issues” in their respective localities.

He also said that 61 percent stakeholders reported improved jail decongestion rates, which were often linked to timely resolution of plea bargaining, use of probation and recognizance mechanisms, and effective application of SC issuances promoting prison and jail decongestion.

At the same time, Gesmundo said that the SC has strengthened the avenues for free quality legal assistance for PDLs. He cited that under Rule 138-A of the Rules of Court on Clinical Legal Education Program, law students have the opportunity to be immersed in their communities, exposing them to actual cases, and allowing them to interact with clients, including PDLs, under the supervision of licensed members of the Bar.

Also, under the Unified Legal Aid Service (ULAS) Rules, “covered lawyers will be required to render pro bono legal aid services to those who would otherwise be denied access to adequate legal assistance, and this will enable marginalized and underprivileged PDLs to have adequate legal representation, which could contribute to the decongestion of jail and prison facilities,” he also said.

Already operational, the Chief Justice said, is the SC’s Online Legal Aid Directory, which allows anyone in need of legal aid, including PDLs, to search for available legal aid services in any given locality in the country.

Another SC initiative in jail decongestion is the 2024 decision which ruled that even persons convicted of heinous crimes are entitled to the benefits of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) under the Revised Penal Code as amended by Republic Act No. 10592, as long as the prisoner is in any penal institution, rehabilitation or detention center or any local jail.

The Chief Justice explained that the 2024 decision “is one of the manifestations of our adherence to the principle that one of the primary attributes of an effective criminal justice system is reformation, which is the transformation of a PDL convicted of a crime, even heinous crimes, into a law-abiding citizen, after serving his or her sentence, with the possibility of still contributing meaningfully to society.”

The government’s initiatives to decongest jails “are bearing fruit.” Gesmundo cited that BJMP reported that its national jail congestion rate was reduced by 10 percent from 296 percent as of September 2025.

He also said that the BJMP reported that from January to September 2025, 69,052 PDLs were released through paralegal assistance; 84,926 benefited from GCTA; and 27,826 received Time Allowance for Study, Teaching, and Mentoring; and over 21,000 PDLs are also currently enrolled in formal education from elementary to senior high school.

However, Gesmundo said that “more needs to be done.”

He stressed: “Overcrowded jails strain government resources, endanger the health and mortality of PDLs, and undermine rehabilitation efforts. More fundamentally, prolonged detention, especially of PDLs waiting for the trial of their cases, erodes public confidence in the justice system and weakens the rule of law.”

He declared: “Congestion is not caused by a single failure, nor can it be solved by a single institution. It is the result of interconnected processes from arrest, prosecution, adjudication, corrections, and reintegration. Any meaningful solution must therefore be systemic, collaborative, and sustained.”

Thus, he said, the Manila Hotel summit on decongestion “is a platform for us to build on the achievements of the First Summit while focusing on long-term structural, policy and legislative reforms to sustainably and permanently decongest Philippine jails and prisons.”