The first ever court trial via video conferencing unfolds this morning at the Davao City Regional Trial Court where two criminal cases – one for frustrated murder and the other for multiple attempted murder involving two suspected members of the New People’s Army – will be heard.
Video conferencing will enable suspects in criminal cases to testify and be cross-examined right inside their detention cells.
Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez said the hearing room of RTC Executive Judge Emmanuel Carpio has been equipped with television monitors, speakers, and high definition cameras, and linked by radio frequency through the towers put up in the Hall of Justice and the Davao City Jail.
Two other RTC branches in Davao City will be utilized for video conferencing as soon as the needed equipment has been set up, Marquez said.
Hearings and trials via video conferencing will be pilot tested in Davao City and later in other areas for not more than two years and will apply to pending and newly filed high-profile criminal cases, said Associate Justice Diosdado M.
Peralta, chaiman of the Supreme Court Committee on Revision of Rules.
Peralta and Marquez have conducted seminars on video conferencing in Davao City. (Rey Panaligan)
