Small Claims Court a.k.a People's Courts

I was invited in the orientation and dialogue on Small Claims Court (SCC) last December 10, 2010. The said SCC information drive was held in the beautiful Marco Polo Hotel and all of the speakers namely: Hon. Maria Filomena D. Singh, Presiding Judge, Quezon City RTC branch 85 who is also a member of the Small Claims Court, Technical Working Group (TWG); Hon. Geraldine Faith Econg, Judicial Reform Program Administrator; Atty. Jack Andrew O Miranda, Operations Director of American Bar Association (ABA)-ROLI; and Atty Thelma C. Bahia, Assistant Court Administrator and Vice-Chair of SCC-TWG gave a very brief but concise presentation on the salient features of the rule of procedure for the small claims under A.M no. 08-8-7-SC.

Now going to court for a small sum of money has just become simple, inexpensive and expeditious with the establishment of small claims courts. A simple procedure makes it easy for everyone. According to former Court Administrator, now Supreme Court Associate Justice Jose P. Perez, “70% of cases before Metropolitan Trial Courts in Metro Manila are small claims (involving small amounts of money) and many of the litigants in these cases are poor. The same thing is true, if not more prevalent, in the provinces and rural areas of the Philippines”. Therefore, to easily dispose of small claims, the Philippine Supreme Court promulgated the Rule of Procedure for Small Claims Cases , which will govern the litigation of claims for sums of money not exceeding 100,000 pesos (P100,000.00) and designated certain courts to handle such cases.

So one may ask, what are the cases covered by Small Claims Courts? As per the handbook on the Rule of Procedure for Small Claims cases, all claims for payments or reimbursements for a sum of money not exceeding P100,000.00 are now considered small claims and, therefore, may only be filed before Small Claims Courts (SCCs). The claim may arise from a variety of sources: unpaid loan, purchase price of a product or service, value of a stolen or damaged property, amount claimed as damages, etc. The amount limit does not include interests and costs. So, for example, an indebtedness of P100,000.00 that earned an interest of P1,500.00 (1.5%) when due and incurred P500.00 as added cost such as admin or collection fee - bringing a total of P102,000.00. This amount will still be considered within the jurisdiction of SCCs.

According to the said briefing, the reality is that the said rule did not create new courts but merely designated lower courts such as: Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts in Cities, Municipal Trial Courts and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts, they are known as first-level courts because they are at the first and lowest level in a hierarchy of courts with increasing jurisdiction and powers and in the appeals process. It was also said that all personnel within this courts were all trained. Furthermore, the statistics and results are promising and very promising.

(to be continued)

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