Claudine Dungo

2011-18122

On November 23, the class and I went to the Department of Justice of Quezon City and
met Attorney Raymond Almonte, the Senior Assistant Prosecutor. His office was brightly lit and
had a welcoming atmosphere—if I didn’t know any better I wouldn’t have been able to tell that
it was a place where criminals were brought in on a daily basis.
He first talked about the procedure police officers had to comply with in the handling of
evidence. First, the inventory must be done in the place where the crime was committed,
otherwise it would mean outright dismissal of the case. However, he admitted that they didn’t
follow the practice strictly because it would pose a bigger danger if they didn’t prosecute drug
cases. He mentioned how the previous Chief of Inquest was killed near his own home in Don
Antonio village, and another police had been recently killed within the premises of the
Department of Justice by drug suspects who wanted to exact vengeance. He deemed it better
to allow liberal application of procedural rules for evidence gathering and file the cases in court,
in order prevent hoodlums like those to run free. I was pretty shocked at how casually he talked
about his colleagues’ deaths; it was only then when I realized how dangerous it really was to be
in that line of work. Ever since I’ve been in law school I had always had my mind set on working
as a criminal lawyer someday, much to the fear of my family and some of my friends. They
always warned me about how many lawyers who defend or prosecute criminals had been
killed, but until I had heard of instances from a prosecutor himself, it seemed like such an
abstract concept to me. It was only then when I realized how much of a real and common
threat it was to lawyers who decided to take up criminal law.
Next, he talked about the necessity of having witnesses. The witnesses must be
someone from the barangay, someone from the media, or someone from the Department of
Justice. They must be at the place where the accused was accosted. He also explained the
different resolution the prosecutor can come up with: for filing, for further investigation, and
for dismissal. Crimes had to be further investigated when the accused isn’t surrendered within
36 hours and the complainant is absent. He expressed his dislike for resolutions that demanded
further investigation because in those instances, the accused are released and more often than
not, they are able to escape.

He also how the inquest must only be done by accused who were properly arrested.