'Justice on Wheels' goes to Sarangani

The courts will be brought closer to the people of Sarangani after Chief Justice Reynato Puno launched Friday the Enhanced Justice on Wheels (EJOW) in the province.

The launching coincided with Sarangani’s 16th Foundation Anniversary being celebrated through a MunaTo Festival from Nov. 26 to 29. 

“MunaTo,” which literally means “first people,” also refers to the indigenous people of Sarangani.

Puno, together with Justice on Wheels chairperson Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, spearheaded the EJOW Program and the Increasing Access to Justice by the Poor Program in Alabel, capital of Sarangani, the southernmost province in mainland Mindanao.

The event commenced with the inauguration of the “Sarangani Justice on Wheels,” a bus with a similar design.

However, the bus is smaller in size than the three existing mobile courts the JOW Committee has been deploying across the nation to address clogged court dockets and congested jail facilities.

Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez donated the bus worth P900,000 through simple ceremonies at the Alabel gymnasium. 

Court hearings presided by Judge Jaime Infante of the Regional Trial Court Branch 38 and Judge Ciriaco Jabido Jr. of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court were thus conducted after the inauguration.

Information dissemination, through several lectures such as on Mobile Court-Annexed Mediation and Judicial Dispute Resolution Mechanism discussed by Deputy Court Administrator Bernardo Ponferrada (ret.), Chief of Office for Philippine Mediation Center of the Philippine Judicial Academy; on Barangay Protection Order under The Anti-Violence Against Women Act (RA 9262), Diversion under The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (RA 9344), and Enforcement of Compromise Agreements before the Barangay in Small Claims Court under the Rule of Procedure for Small Claims Cases tackled by DCA Nimfa Vilches, Vice chairperson of the Supreme Court Committee on JOW; and Overview on Environmental Laws and Fisheries Law and Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, discussed by Court of Appeals Justice Oswaldo Agcaoili (ret.) and PhilJA Professor II. The lectures were held at the Alabel gymnasium.

Medical and dental missions, mobile court-annexed mediation, free legal aid, information as well as workshop and dialogue with barangay officials, were also done as components of the EJOW Program.

Last week, the Chief Justice braved floods and possible landslides in Baler, Aurora some 230 kms. northwest of Manila when he headed the launch of the EJOW Program there. Hearings inside the mobile court there resulted in the release of 23 inmates detained at the Aurora Provincial Jail.