Senators commended the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday after it reported that they were able to solve 94 percent of the 21,423 rape cases filed in court last year.
During the 2025 budget deliberation of the DOJ and its attached agencies in the Senate, Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes Andres attributed the success to the Training and Education Program for Law Enforcement Officers (Tepleo), which promotes the proactive involvement of prosecutors in case build-up.
The training seeks to strengthen the partnership between prosecutors and law enforcers, aiming for airtight cases and a reasonable certainty of conviction in court proceedings.
“It is the result of the close cooperation and coordination of the prosecutors and law enforcement agents where they are now on the same side gathering evidence together, the prosecutors guiding them and making sure that they have sufficient evidence gathered in the right manner that is necessary for us to get the conviction under this higher threshold,” Andres told senators.
With this “very good news,” Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito said he is considering increasing the DOJ’s budget for Tepleo.
The DOJ and its attached agencies are proposing to spend P40.58 billion next year, which is P1.11 billion higher than its P39.47 billion approved budget for this year.
