BRILLANTES, Paolo Carlo B.PALENLLB0301Atty. Victoria Loanzon

The Demeanor of the Judge in Court Every judge is required to maintain order and proper decorum in court. They are required to observe such conduct in order to promote the integrity and dignity of the court. From the point of view of some students taking up law course who only encounter such statements in reading the laws, cases or books, there is no better way to know how they materialize than to personally observe the judge in charge of maintaining order and decorum during court proceedings. An observation made to a Makati Regional Trial Court Judge resulted to a finding that the said judge is the foundation of respect towards the court flowing from her competence and behavior in the court proceedings, the demeanor required of her to promote the dignity of the court. The attitude of the judge produces an atmosphere inside the court room of discipline and complete attention in the court proceedings. This observation was conducted during a presentation of a witness in a trial for a charge of murder against a police official. Counsels, clients and observers listens to the on-going proceedings one after the other though they are not participants of the case currently being tried and the reasons for such attitude is because not only that they are waiting for the turn of their case to be called but also because the judge has a strict attitude towards the parties and their counsels in being alert and prepared in the participation in the proceedings. This kind of attitude of discipline by the judge promotes the integrity of the court by showing that inside the court, parties and their counsels and observers must not make unnecessary gestures or noises because court proceedings requires focus to be handled properly and without unnecessary loss of time. The judges demeanor is clear and visible. During the examination of the witness, the judge participated by making clarifications on the testimony of the witness and it shows that testimonies given by witnesses should not only be relied solely on how they present it but it must be accurate as to show its relevance to the issue involved in the case. For an observer, the testimony of the witness after it was scrutinized by the judge showed a more relevant connection with regard to the subject of the testimony. With the kind of demeanor that the judge showed, the direction of the proceedings enabled the accuracy of the testimony of the witness to be produced and it became clearer whether such testimony was relevant to the issue involved. Though it became clearer what the testimony was establishing, it indicated that such testimony is irrelevant to the issue involved. Finally, after the witness have been presented, the judge gave a reminder to the parties and to the counsels that they are required to be punctual in preparation for examining the witnesses presented in order that the proceedings may progress with due regard to the time and efforts exerted by the parties, the witnesses, and the court. This kind of behavior of the judge displayed the competence of the judge in upholding speedy and fair disposition of cases. By such demeanor, the court gains respect and trust from the public showing that judges as officer of the court, making sure that justice be served, means business and that means each case must be handled competently not only by the judge but the parties and counsels must also be prepared when they appear before the judge in dealing with their case.