Timely justice for Filipinos – POSSIBLE!

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2/3 3:05PM

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I browse through the questions posted in politicalarena.com . I’m surprised very few questions ever get answered. Perhaps the other candidates are too busy on other fora. But on my part, I figure if people care enough to ask these questions, the least a candidate could do is to give their answers.

Here’s another by user  dzeyarr:

What can you do in order to speed-up the litigation process here in the Philippines? Because currently, a litigation can last up to 30 years! Imagine the agony of the prejudiced individual.

I agree with you, dzeyarr. While the decisions of our justices are often upright, there is much left to be said about the efficiency of our present justice system.

As a lawyer with 35 years of experience both here in the Philippines and in the United States, I have seen the different ways courts are run – some bad, some good. With this experience, I have come up with a proposal to introduce into our justice system a MODIFIED TRIAL SYSTEM that will essentially speed up the trial process and deliver timely justice for everyone.

In a nutshell, there are 3 major points to the modified trial system.

The 1^st is that judges will be divided between 2 distinct roles: a pre-trial judge and a trial judge. The pre-trial judge will oversee the case as to which issues contending parties agree too. If the matter can be settled at the pre-trial stage, then the case is over and everyone walks away satisfied. In the event that certain issues cannot be reconciled between the parties, then these issues are carried over to the trial judge who will preside over the case hearing only the issues not agreed upon at the pre-trial stage.

The 2^nd major feature of the modified trial system is that trial cases will be carried out using ORAL ADVOCACY, which means cases must be argued orally in court as opposed to using written advocacy. The reason for this is that the tendency of written arguments and pleadings to TAKE A LOT OF TIME TO PROCESS. If cases are argued in front of the judge on the spot, then the judge can decide right away. He/she does not have to go through pages and pages of written word. Written advocacy will not be eliminated but rather used more prominently in appellate proceedings.

The 3^rd feature is that cases will be tried ONE CASE AT A TIME. Since trials will be utilizing on-the-spot oral advocacy, a judge can listen to the arguments and decide right away on the case. Another benefit to this is that judges can focus their attention to one case only and not be distracted with details from other cases. This way, a trial case can be decided on and resolved as quickly as within one day.

I have submitted this proposal to former Chief Justice Davide during his term. He gave his endorsement to my proposal. A pilot project has been approved to divide judges between pre-trial and trial judges. But because of compounding events and issues, the project was put on hold.

If elected senator, this will be part of my prioritized legislative agenda. It will be introduced first as an OPTION so that the people can see for themselves the differences between the present system and the modified one. God willing, they will find justice delivered more timely through this and institute it in a more permanent arrangement.

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