Judicial reforms underway in SC

CEBU, Philippines - The Supreme Court of the Philippines continues to find ways in order to make the dispensation of justice efficient, effective, fair, responsive, environmentally and user friendly.

SC administrator Jose Midas Marquez, who was in Cebu the other day, said that judicial reforms are now underway.

“Judicial reforms are a never-ending effort,” said Marquez, who was the keynote speaker at the forum “Building Resilient Justice: A Panel Forum on Structural Integrity of Courthouses” organized by the law students of the University of Cebu College of Law.

Marquez cited that the electronic-court or the e-court is currently being pilot-tested in Quezon City, wherein filing of pleadings, complaints, among others, is done electronically.

The e-court would likewise aim to link all the courts for proper monitoring of cases.

Another reform is the electronic-cash or electro-nic assessment wherein payment of court fees will be done electronically, as well as the electronic raffling of cases that eliminates human intervention as to what court will handle specific cases.

With these systems in place, the Supreme Court can monitor all the courts nationwide without necessarily calling the judge.

“In Quezon City courts, these are 85 percent done and we perfected it; we will be rolling this out in key ci-ties, including Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City,” said Marquez.

Another judicial reform includes the case decongestion activity wherein court records (the information and decision) are being digitalized so that in case of calamities like fire or earthquake, they would be easier to retrieve.

To ensure that arresting  officers will attend court hearings, the Supreme Court and the Philippine National Police made an agreement to come up with an electronic subpoena or e-subpoena.

This e-subpoena will ensure that no matter where the arresting officer is stationed, he or she is compelled to attend court hearing.

“Sa ngayon maraming cases na na-dismiss, especially drug cases, kasi yung arresting officers na-transfer na at hindi ma-serve yung subpoena. But through e-subpoena, centralized na yung subpoena na kahit saan pa yung arresting officer naka-assign, it will still be served,” Marquez explained.  (FREEMAN)