New chief justice urged to convene JELACC

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Francis Pangilinan called on Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to convene the Judicial Executive Legislative Advisory and Consultative Council (JELACC) as one of her first acts as head of the judiciary.

The JELACC, the brainchild of Pangilinan, is a mechanism for the three branches of government to sit down and discuss the issues surrounding the judiciary and find ways to address these.

Pangilinan said one of the most important matters that should be taken up during the JELACC is the need to provide budgetary support for the modernization of the justice system.

“We need to work towards increasing the judiciary budget to address decades-old problems plaguing it, such as the 25 percent vacancy rate, the lack of facilities and justice halls, the low conviction rates and the delay in resolving cases that last an average of six years, among others,” he said.

Pangilinan lamented that people with cases in court usually have “to suffer six years of litigation in the first level and suffer more years waiting for the resolution of the appeal.”

“It is totally unacceptable to have a conviction rate of less than 20 percent in criminal cases. This means that eight out of 10 cases end up in acquittals,” Pangilinan said.

“This system is anti-poor and anti-progress. We should not be allowed to suffer from this rotten and bankrupt system. It is a justice system that is totally unjust and totally unacceptable,” he added.

During a hearing on the proposed P17.7-billion budget of the judiciary for 2013, Senators Franklin Drilon and Edgardo Angara also called the attention of the Supreme Court (SC) on the slow disposition of cases.

The two senators prodded the SC to fill up its vacancies in order to free up the caseloads of courts in several parts of the country.

“No wonder respect for the rule of law is more the exception rather than the rule. The powerful and the mighty scoff at it while the poor and the weak, having no access to it, are oblivious to it. How can anyone respect a system that doesn’t work?” Pangilinan asked.

Angara said the judiciary should make alternative dispute resolution mandatory in order to declog the court dockets.

“Maybe we can require parties to put a mandatory arbitration provision in their contracts. If you go to court directly, the court can dismiss the case and ask you to go to arbitration,” he said.

“Arbitration is more advantageous than court litigation, especially in our case where it usually takes several years for the trial courts to hear and resolve the cases filed with them,” he added.