Corona pushes justice on wheels program

MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Renato Corona has vowed to pursue the enhanced justice on wheels program of the Supreme Court, one of the legacies left by his predecessors.

Corona will in fact facilitate the EJOW project to be held on Friday in Marikina City.

In his first appearance for the program, the chief justice will lead the opening of a new EJOW facility in front of the New Hall of Justice in Barangay Sta. Elena, according to Court Administrator and SC spokesman Midas Marquez.

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, chair of the SC committee on EJOW; Deputy Court Administrator Nimfa Cuesta-Vilches, and Marikina City Mayor Ma. Lourdes Fernando would join the chief justice during the event.

EJOW hearings, mobile court-annexed mediation, and dental and medical missions will also be held.

The EJOW is a program created by the High Court to reach out to poor Filipinos and expedite litigation of cases they are involved in. The program all started from an official visit of SC officials to Guatemala and a bus donated by the World Bank.

Then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. went to Guatemala on official visit in 2003 and was told about the mobile court system used by the government to bring justice closer to the people or to provide people in remote areas adequate and inexpensive access to justice.

On his return to the Philippines, Davide and the World Bank arranged for, and made possible two study and observation trips in January and May 2004 by officials of SC to Guatemala, to look into the possibility of establishing a mobile court system in the Philippines as a means to bring justice closer to the poor, by providing a fast and free resolution of conflicts through conciliation, mediation or adjudication.

In May 2004, a concept paper on the feasibility of establishing mobile courts in the Philippines was prepared and submitted to the Court. The following month, the Court launched the Justice on Wheels Project. For this purpose an ad hoc committee was created, and assigned Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna as its chairperson.

Six months after passing Resolution (A.M. No. 04-6-02), the Court rolled out the first JOW bus on Dec. 20, 2004.

Rotation

The JOW project aims to literally bring the courts to the people via an air-conditioned bus worth about P8 million that houses a small courtroom and offices of the first- or second-level court judge assigned via a rotation scheme, and are staffed by court personnel and a mediator. The mobile court is custom-built to efficiently serve its functions. It is divided into two main sections: the front section serves as the courtroom, while the rear section serves as the mediation room. It is fully air-conditioned and equipped with amenities for the judge, the court personnel, the litigants, and their lawyers.

The mobile court is provided with the following personnel complement: a presiding judge, a clerk of court, a prosecutor, a public attorney, a court stenographer, a docket clerk, a process server, a driver, and a security guard.

The judges were assigned to the mobile court on a rotation basis. The judge on duty brings with him the branch clerk of court, stenographer, docket clerk, process server and the prosecutor and public attorney assigned to his sala. A mobile court calendar is prepared for each hearing day for each assigned presiding judge.

Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno pursued this project and even expanded its coverage to medical and dental missions, legal assistance and information dissemination and training to barangay officials and law students on court mediation. The program then became EJOW.

As of December last year, EJOW has facilitated the release of/dismissal of cases against 2,513 inmates, settled 5,361 cases through court-annexed mediation, and provided free legal aid to 1,103 detainees. Some 6,883 inmates were provided free medical and dental assistance, while 11,900 barangay officials have been oriented on the Court’s EJOW and other judicial reform programs and Court rules enhancing human rights.

By the first quarter of 2010, the mobile courts are set to be deployed in Kalibo and Roxas in the Visayas; Sta. Cruz or Biñan, Laguna; Malolos, Bulacan; La Union and Baguio City; Cagayan De Oro and Iligan or South Cotabato and Maguindanao; Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and Abra; Tarlac and Pangasinan; Iloilo and Bacolod; Bohol and the cities of Marikina, Mandaluyong, Taguig and Muntinlupa.