Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said on Friday that his office needs more prosecutors to fill up more than 1,000 vacant positions, which he said was the major reason why backlog of cases has increased and continue to pile up.
Aguirre admitted that the number of case backlog has increased from 10,000 when he assumed the office to 14,000 unresolved cases.
“Kailangang-kailangan namin ng mga prosecutors dito [we are in need of prosecutors here],” Aguirre said.
He said that the DoJ has more than 1,000 vacancies.
Aguirre earlier blamed the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III, through the leadership of former DoJ secretary Leila de Lima, for the slow processing of appointment papers which resulted in the vacancies and the backlog of cases.
When he took over the DOJ office, Aguirre said that he inherited a backlog of 10,000 cases and 509 vacancies for prosecutors.