The Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure stipulates that the financial capacity of the accused should be considered in fixing the bail amounts. But how is "financial capacity" actually measured? Here is a suggestion from one of my respondents in my study: “If the accused already stayed in jail for 6 months (180 days) or more, based on the time limits imposed by the Speedy Trial Law and Continuous Trial Circular of the Supreme Court, then the bail may be automatically reduced by half; if it is more than one year, then bail should be reduced further to ¼ of the amount; and then finally, if the trial is still ongoing for two years or more, then the bail should be reduced to 1 percent of the amount. The length of stay in jail should be the best indicator of indigency. The reason why he/she can’t be released from jail is because of no money, and the longer he/she stays, the more indigent he/she is”
Does this make sense to you? Based on my study in one jail, 51 percent of the inmates are charged with bailable offenses... if they have money, they could be released immediately. Of these bailable offenders, around half have stayed in jail for more than a year, and 10 percent had stayed in jail for two years. Releasing these bailable overstaying offenders would save the government PHP 20 Million a year for food from this jail alone. Should we reduce their bail amounts based on their length of stay in jail? What do you think?
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