SC launches Justice on Wheels

SAN JOSE DEL MONTE, Bulacan – Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago led the launching of the Justice on Wheels (JOWS) program with the oath-taking of accredited mediators tasked to dispense more then 2,000 pending cases at the municipal trial courts here.

Santiago, chairperson of the Supreme Court’s Committee on Justice on Wheels Project, said the JOWS on a bus will serve as a mobile court in this city and nearby towns in the province with a high number of pending cases.

“We can now be sure that cases proceeding will be faster with the Justice on Wheels program,” Santiago said.

Assistant Court Administrator Nimfa Vilches, vice chair of the committee, explained in a brief presentation that in addition to jail decongestion, the JOWS project also fully supports the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms including Court Annexed Mediation (CAM).

Court Annexed Mediation is a process conducted under the auspices of the SC, and its process is governed by the rules and guidelines promulgated by the high court.

Vilches said that CAM has been found to be one of the most expeditious modes of alternative dispute resolution.

She said at least 12 provincial mediation centers (PMC) have been strategically established in the country. There is one in Malolos City, and another in San Fernando City, Pampanga.

Despite the presence of PMC’s, many municipal and regional trial courts remain clogged.

To solve this problem, the Justice on Wheels project committee, in partnership with the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) and the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA), recommended the deployment of JOWS buses in Bulacan to be utilized for court annexed mediation.

A JOWS bus has a presiding judge, clerk of court, a mediation supervisor, mediation staff and four accredited mediators.

Eric Fernandez, the head of the 10-man mediation team in Bulacan, said they have been tasked to resolve the more than 2,000 pending cases which have clogged the municipal trial court dockets in just two months.