Courts nationwide conducted a total of 327,991 videoconferencing hearings as of June 4, according to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, who vowed to use technology to decongest the dockets of the judiciary.
The pandemic hastened the digitalization of Philippine courts, many of which have hesitated in the past to embrace new technologies that would change court procedures.
The judiciary pilot tested videoconferencing hearings in May 2020 or two months after lockdowns were imposed. Gesmundo said the success rate was 87.57%.
The videoconferencing hearings tackled 303,189 criminal cases, 20,846 civil cases, and 3,777 unspecified cases.
Gesmundo said the courts also released 90,040 qualified Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) during the pandemic, among them were 1,217 Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL).
“The initial steps in improving and innovating our courts are the expeditious creation and strengthening of the ICT infrastructure of the entire judiciary, and the conduct of a comprehensive review of court operations and processes,” Gesmundo said in his first press conference as chief justice on June 11.
“I have no doubt that these plans for a more effective and responsive judiciary will come into fruition,” he said.
Gesmundo said they would need to address power concerns and poor Internet connectivity in different parts of the country, however.
“We had a dialogue last week with the Judiciary Reform Initiative, a group of businesspeople who have expressed support to the judiciary… One of the matters that we specifically raised to them is to be able to make representations with the TELCO (telecommunication companies),” he said.
“There are islands [that] neither have power nor Internet connect[ivity] but we will always try to address [these problems],” he said.
Resolve cases within 2 years
Gesmundo also announced that the justices of the Supreme Court agreed to amend their internal rules to require themselves to resolve cases brought to the high tribunal within two years. The new rule applied to cases filed after April 2021.
Backlog is the high court’s biggest administrative headache, and the pressure had been growing on the justices to get a handle of it. (READ: The other battle: Backlog)
The pandemic exacerbated the problem. Gesmundo said this was because a skeleton workforce reported to work when strict lockdowns were enforced, slowing down administrative processes.
Nearly 2,000 employees of the judiciary were also infected with the coronavirus disease.
“These extensive delays in resolving cases have always had an adverse effect on the public’s perception on our courts and court processes,” Gesmundo said.
PCIJ Special
eCourt System
Gesmundo, who is expected to serve until November 2026, said his long-term goal would be to establish a digitalized court system with a “unified, comprehensive, and intelligent case management system.”
He presented a video showing his vision of the eCourt System, which would digitize the following:
• Filing – Litigants may file court papers online using ICT devices
• Payment – Courts may receive fees and payments digitally from litigants, their counsels, and representatives. Various modes of payment such as credit cards, online banking, and digital wallet will be accepted.
• Raffle – allows electronic filing of cases without human intervention using state of the art technology;
• Service of summons – Summons may be served via electronic means such as email or via SMS
• Case monitoring and tracking – Tracking of case status will be automated to flag cases that are not moving
• Rollo – Physical case documents will be transformed into digital format, eliminating the need to transport them to different courts via land, sea, or air.
The Supreme Court would also be allowing online submission of Bar exam applications and the electronic payment of Bar exam fees, he said.
Gesmundo said he also wanted to utilizate Artificial Intelligence or AI to strengthen legal research, performance evaluation, anti-corruption programs, public assistance, and speed up the preparation of the transcript of stenographic notes.