Drilon: 731 judges’ positions vacant

The wheels of justice grind ever so slowly in the country simply because there’s a dearth of judges in the trial courts.

Alarmed over the lack of judges, Senate President Franklin Drilon vowed yesterday to rush the approval of a bill seeking to upgrade the salary scale for members of the judiciary to encourage practicing lawyers to enter government service.

Citing Department of Justice records, Drilon said there are 731 vacant seats for judges in the various courts, resulting in the slow dispensation of justice.

He said the regional trial courts needed 192 additional judges, 24 for the metropolitan trial courts, 33 for the municipal trial courts, 263 in the municipal circuit trial courts, three in the Shar’ia district courts and 32 in the Shar’ia circuit courts.

"The statistics on court vacancies reflect the unattractiveness of judgeship positions owing to the anomalous salary structure in the judiciary," Drilon said.

"We have to address this problem fast before our people completely lose faith in our judicial system," he stressed.

Senate Bill 2018 aims to upgrade the salaries of members of the judiciary by exempting them from the coverage of the Salary Standardization Law.

Drilon, himself a former justice secretary, expressed confidence that the measure would be approved by the chamber middle of this year.

He noted that the "best and brightest" among lawyers shy away from a career in the judiciary mainly because of the low pay.

He added that those who stick it out in government service are highly vulnerable to bribery by wealthy litigants and vested interests.

"The low salary of our judges is a double whammy to the justice system. It promotes corruption and at the same time serves as a disincentive to aspiring judges," he said.