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1) The author and their class visited the regional trial court in Cebu City to observe the judicial branch of government. 2) The author witnessed two court cases - one involving a man who escaped from a previous crime, and another involving vagrancy. 3) They also learned about a new law regarding juvenile delinquency that focuses on rehabilitation rather than jail time and avoids permanent criminal records.

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Sui Narcan
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8K views

Reaction Paper

1) The author and their class visited the regional trial court in Cebu City to observe the judicial branch of government. 2) The author witnessed two court cases - one involving a man who escaped from a previous crime, and another involving vagrancy. 3) They also learned about a new law regarding juvenile delinquency that focuses on rehabilitation rather than jail time and avoids permanent criminal records.

Uploaded by

Sui Narcan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Narciso A.

Cañiban
BSN III

TOUR ON THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT


(REACTION PAPER)

On March 22, 2011 the PHILGOV class is supposed to have a tour on the
three branches of government but due to some unfortunate events we only had
a visit on the judicial branch which was on the regional trial court located at
Capitol, Cebu City. When we arrived at the court, there were already inmates
from the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center who came to hear
their their trial along with their counsel. The presiding judge arrived late and so
the trial started past 10 Am when it's supposed to be at 9. The presiding judge
of branch 13 is Honorable Meinrado P. Paredes. Though I already knew what
will happen during a trial because it's frequently showed in the movies but it's a
different feeling to witness a real one. The first case tried was about a man who
was arrested for escaping a crime he previously committed. When the witness
was invited for an interrogation at the court stand, the atmosphere in that court
room started to heat up almost to it's boiling point. I observed that the
witness was fabricating some stories just to protect the accused but the fiscal as
well as the presiding judge actually did a great job of digging out the truth
from the witness. I realized that no matter how hard you try to hide the truth, it
shall always prevail. Another case tried was about vagrancy. The word seems
sound alien to me at first but as the trial went on I have deciphered it's
meaning by myself. Vagrancy, in law means a person who was idle and there's
an element of being habitual, which means to say, it's done repeatedly without
due purpose. After that, we had a break wherein we grabbed the opportunity to
interview Judge Paredes. At the middle of the interview, came a fifteen year old
arrested for murder. We were all lock-jawed when we learned about the crime
he had done which leads the judge to mention a new law about juvenile
delinquency. It states that any minor who committed a crime shall not be put to
jail anymore but instead be rehabbed at the Department of Social Welfare and
Development. The amazing part of the law is that by the time that delinquent
minor was freed, there will be no criminal records filed of him. He ended that as
a judge, there are 300 pending cases at hand and majority of those deals with
the use of illegal drugs.
I was thankful I had the chance to witness a real court trial. I realized that
it's not easy being a lawyer or a judge because it entails a lot of mental
alertness and a sound knowledge of the law. You also have to be good in
interrogation for you to uncover the truth. Because of this tour I became more
aware of the justice system of this country.

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