Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo (Photo courtesy of SC)
MANILA – Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo on Thursday highlighted the reforms initiated by the Judiciary that aim to facilitate court proceedings and hasten the disposition of cases.
Speaking before the Justice Reform Initiative (JRI) summit in Makati City, Gesmundo noted that among the reforms initiated so far during his watch is the review of court rules of procedure "from end to end, to adopt a simplified and, as far as feasible, unified procedure for the faster and less costly hearing and disposition of cases."
He noted that in March 2022, the Supreme Court adopted the expedited rules of procedure in all first-level courts, which includes the Rule on Summary Procedure as well as the Rule on Small Claims.
"We have increased the threshold for Small Claims to PHP1 million. The survey results confirm that Small Claims is really our showstopper. It has revolutionized the concept of expedited hearings in our country," Gesmundo said.
"Under the revision of our Rules on Civil Procedure, we are adopting a one-step appeal for all our cases. This means the multi-layered appeals process that we have at present will be significantly simplified and reduced to just one review phase. This will also achieve the much-needed filtering of cases that go up to the Supreme Court and clog our docket, mostly cases from the trial courts," he added.
The magistrate also cited efforts to update rules on video conference hearings or VCH, which was first resorted to during the pandemic due to the risks posed by the coronavirus.
Gesmundo said the court is now revising the rules to permanently include VCH in every trial judge’s tool kit, meaning, it may be resorted to whenever it will help facilitate a speedier and less expensive resolution of the dispute.
"Hence, (in) instances when distance poses a logistical burden to any party or witness, or when illness or other impediments to mobility (like age) exists, the courts will be allowed to resort to VCH," Gesmundo added.
The SC also cited the publication of its book of judicial forms and it is now available on the Supreme Court website.
Gesmundo said the Book of Judicial Forms will help both judges and litigants alike through the introduction of ready-made forms and templates of the most commonly used court forms.
Gesmundo added that the Office of the Court Administrator is working to decentralize the functions by downstreaming them to regional court managers, who will be closer to the courts they will service.
The measure aims to make administrative support services, like filling up vacancies and the procurement of supplies, more efficient.
As a final step in this decentralization, the transfer of administrative duties of judges to professional office managers will also be pursued, Gesmundo said.
"At present, our trial judges are saddled with administrative duties on top of their principal adjudicative functions. This has undoubtedly affected the productivity of our courts. By handing over these administrative duties to trained court managers, who are not necessarily lawyers, greater efficiency will be achieved," he said.
Furthermore, the Court Management Office (CMO), an office under the SC, will be capacitated to provide the Court with data analytics to help in policy formulation and in identifying problem areas, he said.
The reports submitted by the different courts to the CMO are routinely monitored and analyzed to detect trends, like spikes in the filings of certain cases, and to predict patterns of inefficiency, like delays or complete inaction. This will assist the Court in coming up with evidence-based solutions.
The Court also continuously promotes Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms with its court-annexed mediation program has consistently rated high in terms of successful settlements, Gesmundo said. (PNA)
