Filipino sentenced to 10 days for theft of food worth $0.40: What happened next

JAILED FOR STEALING $0.40 LUNCH: “Mang Juan”, a 61-year-old Filipino, was charged for stealing the lunch of a 14-year-old student on June 15, 2016. The rather simple meal, called "bentelog" — fried rice with egg — was worth Php20 ($0.40). The charge sheet filed by the prosecutor states that Mang Juan stole the food “willfully, unlawfully and feloniously”. A judge sentenced him to 10 days in jail, but due to miscommunication, Mang Juan ended up staying in jail for more than three years, or about 1,100 days.

CROWDED HOUSE: During COVID, among those which have reported outbreaks include the Quezon City Jail (pictured) in the capital, Manila. The facility is so crowded: It has a bed capacity of only 286, but had 5,236 inmates at one point. Inmates take turns sleeping on staircases and open-air basketball courts. | A file photo shows inmates sleeping at the open basketball court inside the QC jail. The Supreme Court ordered the release of nearly 10,000 low-risk prisoners as well as those who are unable to post bail well throughout the country as part of measures to curb COVID's spread in overcrowded jails. Mang Juan's case is symptomatic of a broken justice system, say experts.

NO MONEY FOR BAIL: Since Mang Juan’s victim was a minor, the case of theft was filed in a Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Manila. The bail was set for Php2,000 ($40), which Mang Juan was unable able to pay. The RTC transferred the case to the Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC). Meanwhile, a separate case of theft was filed in the MTC, this time by the “tindera” — storekeeper — as the complainant. | File photo shows policemen patrolling around a slum in Manila.

HEARINGS: After three Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) hearings were postponed — postponement of court hearings are common in the Philippines due to structural, organisational and cultural reasons — the MTC judge provisionally dismissed the case. The MTC judge immediately ordered the warden to release the inmate. | The facade of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila. For illustrative purposes only.

INFORMATION NOT SHARED: However, it turned out that the MTC judge never informed the RTC judge on how the case was disposed. And the RTC judge never sent a release order to the prison warden. It was the RTC judge who committed the inmate; without his release order, the inmate stayed in jail. And while in jail, “Manong” had a stroke.

CARED FOR BY FELLOW INMATES: Even in correctional facilities known for violence and overcrowding, humanity is fully alive. After Mang Juan had a stroke, his fellow inmates took care of him. | Inmates at the New Bilibid Prison south of Manila wait for their turn to have their tattoo removed.

RELEASE ORDER: Upon noticing Mang Juan’s prolonged detention, the paralegal of the jail informed the RTC. The RTC personnel were shocked. Verification by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) paralegal officer showed that the RTC already disposed the case three years earlier — with the judge sentencing the accused for 10 days. The RTC judge immediately sent the release order. The inmate was released a week later. His three-year ordeal had finally come to an end. | A regional trial court building in the Philippines. For illustrative purposes only.

$2.8 MILLION FOR FOOD, MEDICINES FOR QC JAIL PER YEAR: Rights campaigners call such overcrowding “criminogenic” (a system/place likely to cause criminal behaviour) and a “humanitarian crisis”. This also means that Filipino taxpayers fork out P143 million (about $2.8 million) per year for food and medicines for the QC jail alone — based on Php75/day food & meds budget per person. | A detainee watches a basketball game inside the city jail of Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines in this file photo taken on July 8, 2017.

OVERCROWDING: Conditions inside prisons have worsened in recent years as the anti-narcotics drive has sent thousands of people to jails already several times over their capacity. | A scene inside the overcrowded South Cotabato jail, in Mindanao, Philippines.

LAND FOR NEW JAIL: Philippine court officials said the government would build new jails to address severe congestion. During the May 2020 release of nearly 10,000 inmates who are unable to post bail, Associate Supreme Court Justice Mario Victor Leonen told reporters: "The (Supreme) court is very much aware of the congested situation in our prisons.”

MEAL TIME IN JAIL: | At Manila's New Bilibid Prison — the country's largest, with more than 28,000 inmates squeezed into a complex designed for about 6,000 — the vast majority of prisoners belong to a gang. Fixing the Philippines’ corrections system is a huge task. Many influential people sentenced to jail with finality for big-time graft cases enjoy freedom, thanks to an endless cycle of appeal, but for poor inmates who have no money to post bail, like Mang Juan, it’s an entirely different story.

FACTS GATHERED: The facts surrounding Mang Juan’s circumstances were gathered in 2019 by Prof. Raymund Narag, a US-based Filipino criminal justice expert and associate professor at the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. As for Mang Juan, Prof Narag said: “He lost his family in process and now probably live in the streets.”

TATTOO DEFACED: An artist removes a tattoo of an inmate at the New Bilibid Prison in Manila. Authorities hope that defacing these markings will stop inmates from being dragged into cellblock wars and strip them of loyalty to a particular group, making it harder for leaders to mobilise their network of followers to riot or trade in drugs. This file photo was taken on December 3, 2020.

HUNDREDS OF JUDGES SEATS VACANT: One reason for overcrowding is inefficient information management system, lack of judges and the anti-drug campaign going on overdrive, said Prof. Narag. | A roster of incumbent judges seen by Gulf News dated September 2, 2021 lists more than 300 positions for judges either as “vacant” (229) or “unorganized” (90) across the country.

GINORMOUS TASK: Fixing the Philippines’ corrections system is a huge task. Many influential people sentenced to jail with finality for well-known graft cases continue to enjoy freedom, thanks to an endless cycle of appeal, but poor inmates who have no money for bail could literally rot in jail. Prof. Narag has called upon lawyers and paralegal volunteers of the Philippines to do something about it. “We have gargantuan tasks to do,” he said.

8.9% JOBLESS RATE: The unemployment rate in the Philippines rose to 8.9% — equivalent to 4.25 million Filipinos — in September 2021, the highest since January this year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on November 4, 2021. | File photo show residents hunting for usable items from the burnt remains of Bahay Toro in Manila, where about 500 residents, mostly informal settlers, lost their homes.