speech delivered by chief justice maria lourdes p. a...
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
1
Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno during the 2015 Search for Outstanding Judges and Clerks of Court on September 18, 2015 at the Manila Hotel
Honorable Presbitero Velasco Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court, Retired Senior Associate Justice Josue N. Bellosillo, Justice Romeo
Callejo, Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, Justice Adolf Azcuna, Retired
Court of Appeals Justice Aurora [Santiago-]Lagman, incumbent Justices of the
Court of Appeals, Justice Apolinario [D.] Bruselas [Jr.], I saw Justice Mario
Lopez there, and then [Justice] Manuel Barrios. Did I miss anyone else? The
incumbent Justices and the retired Justices of the Court of Appeals, JBC
(Judicial and Bar Council) member, Milagros “Mitoy” [Fernan] Cayosa, Dean
Manuel Diokno, Court Administrator Midas P. Marquez, Former Court
Administrator DCA (Deputy Court Administrator) [Zenaida N.] Elepaño,
Executive Head for Academic Affairs of The PHILJA (Philippine Judicial
Academy), Retired Court of Appeals Justice [Delilah Vidallon-] Magtolis, and
DCA Jenny [Lind R. Aldecoa-] Delorino, Honorable Executive Judges, Presiding
Judges, and all members and professional staff of the judiciary; but most of all
to the awardees themselves and their families.
I thank you as well as of course to our very generous benefactors today.
I thank you again for giving me the opportunity to be here with you this
![Page 2: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
2
afternoon, and this is the fourth time actually since I assumed the mantle of
leadership that I have the honor of keynoting the awarding of the JEA (Judicial
Excellence Awards) Night. It has been an annual affair since 1991, when the
search for the judiciary’s outstanding judges and clerks of court was initially
conducted by the Foundation for Judicial Excellence.
By any stretch of the imagination, 24 years, a quarter of a century, is a
long period of time to be continuously conducting an activity or a program. It
can be said that JEA has become more than just an activity or a program; it has
become a tradition.
We are all familiar with family traditions but allow me to say that the
JEA ceremony is likened to a family reunion. The awardees tonight have been
screened and judged by panels and committees that include past JEA
awardees themselves. And therefore, it is only proper that the moment an
award is conferred then there is membership in a society. There is affinity
immediately to a family.
But above all else, as borne out by its name, the tradition which JEA
honors most, other than being part of a big grand family, is “excellence.” In
this one word are encompassed the virtues of integrity and independence,
![Page 3: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
3
courage and competence. And I believe that when it comes to excellence, there
can be no compromise.
I found one compelling and yet simple definition of excellence, it means
“greatness – the very best”, and “achieving excellence is never easy to do. [And
it] is a quality that people really appreciate because it’s so hard to find.”1
There is, therefore value in acclaiming excellence in view of the human
need for validation, acknowledgment, and recognition. More than that, you the
awardees, serve as inspiration, role models, and even teachers to those
aspiring [for] excellence.
And for the most part, however, we all know that it is a lonely pursuit as
it involves a personal commitment that does not depend on the critique or
plaudits of others. I stress the importance of commitment here because we
Filipinos have often been criticized for being short-termed, for being ningas
cogon. Individually and as a people, we cannot sustain excellence because we
had just brief shining moments or episodes of glory. And therefore, in order to
sustain excellence in a real way, we have to give it consistent effort. And the
Judicial Excellence Awards and the Society which makes it possible is a way by
which we can propound and we can ensure this consistency.
1 http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/excellence, accessed September 14, 2015
![Page 4: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
4
While earlier we heard testimonials from the court staff of our four
awardees, allow me as Chief Justice to relate to the audience the stories of the
record of the awardees speak of. It is an honor for me to not do chismis as our
choir sang about, but genuine story telling of the lives of these four
individuals.
Now [The Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano Awardee, Judge Rafael
Crescencio C.] Tan [Jr.] I have heard of since I was appointed as Chief Justice.
There was a brief stint at which he was supposed to be leading the downloading
of functions as Regional Court Administrator. But you know I thought that the
more wonderful part of his life is how he was able to make the transition from
being a professional solider to joining the legal profession and eventually
being a professor of law at Silliman University, and eventually as a judge. The
fact that I have here before me a man, a patriot, who loves his country so much
that he has gone on to have his time this year breaking the record of women
awardees. Considering that he has now become the rarity — a male awardee
in recent years for the Judicial Excellence Awards.
But he until now continues to call upon his military training when, as a
Reserve Officer of the Philippine Army, he led a platoon-size group of
volunteer reservists in relief efforts to victims of typhoons Yolanda, Queenie,
![Page 5: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
5
Ruby, and Seniang. I think that the pursuit of excellence seems to be a habit
for him, for he is a repeat JEA winner; he was the recipient of the Justice Alex
Reyes Award [for Judicial Excellence] as MTC (Municipal Trial Court) judge in
2002. Appointed RTC (Regional Trial Court) judge in 2005, he decimated his
caseload by meticulously observing the one-day examination rule, the
continuous trial of cases, and pre-trial techniques. The local Bar, that has all
praises for him, notes that as a presiding judge of a Special Court for Drugs
Cases, he renders judgments in less than 30 days from the time these cases are
submitted for resolution. The results speak for themselves: he only has as of
2014 end, 101 pending cases, all of them criminal, a 70% decrease from his
initial inventory of 337 criminal cases. Judge Tan, mabuhay ka!
Our Don Antonio Madrigal Awardee, the aptly named Judge Juris S.
Dilinila-Callanta of the MeTC (Metropolitan Trial Court), Branch 42, Quezon
City, has also made significant inroads in the caseload of her sala. Since 2010,
she was able to reduce by two-thirds the number of active cases in her docket,
from 1,489 to 592 cases. From June 2010 to July 2015, she disposed of 4,696
cases, which is around 900 cases more than the 3,765 total number of cases
raffled to her sala for the same period. Those impressive numbers show her
commitment to the various reform initiatives of the Supreme Court for a faster
![Page 6: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
6
and more effective administration of justice. And she is part of the most active
judges in Quezon City in our reform programs in the Justice Zone. She was,
first, Second Vice Executive Judge in 2012; then First Vice Executive Judge in
2013; next, Acting Executive Judge in 2014; and ultimately, we appointed her
as Executive Judge of the MeTC in Quezon City this year. Judge Juris, thank you
for all your hard work!
Doing more than what is expected of her appears to be the mantra of the
winner of the JEA Outstanding Clerk of Court (Single Sala)/ Branch Clerk of
Court (Multiple Sala) - Second Level Courts category, Atty. Mischelle R.
Maulion-Jocson of the RTC (Regional Trial Court), Branch 59 of Angeles City,
Pampanga. Is Judge [Omar T.] Viola here with you? I can assure that when
Judge Omar Viola is on the video, he can be a distraction. You know he is such
a well-loved judge and I am very happy that it is his Clerk of Court that is
getting this award today. When the video was being relayed to us, you could
already see both the initiative of Atty. Jocson and her imagination in preparing
a work flow from raffling to submission of cases for resolution, complete with
this mission statement: “to provide speedy dispensation of justice within the
bounds of the law and applicable rules.” When a court interpreter is not
![Page 7: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
7
present, she volunteers as one. She also conducts regular meetings with the
staff to evaluate their performance and discuss areas for improvement.
Ms. Rowena Dacumos Solomon, the JEA Awardee for the Outstanding
Clerk of Court (Single Sala)/Branch Clerk of Court (Multiple Sala) – First Level
Courts category was noted by the IBP (Integrated Bar of the Philippines-La
Union Chapter) on how she had integrated computer technology in both the
filing and reporting and retrieval systems in her court. And we have taken
note of her “exceptional sense of leadership and responsibility in threshing
out the mismanaged records of cases in her branch and she takes the very
time-consuming and laborious task of examining the records of pending,
archived and disposed cases in order to have a genuine inventory of the
same.” (Resolution dated December 9, 2002, AM No. 01-10-284-MTCC)
I cannot remember which of the two Clerks of Court is also being noted
by one of her staff for sending a letter reminder even to litigants, and that’s
just so outstanding. It is just so mind-boggling that such kind of effort had
been poured under very difficult conditions. So Atty. Jocson and Ms. Solomon,
I thank both of you.
I commend all four awardees because their excellence has been forged
in the spirit of sacrifice and service: sacrifice, because when I was
![Page 8: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
8
administering the oath I was already reaffirmed what everyone knows: to be
in the judiciary means foregoing a life of luxury; service, because the judiciary
is entrusted with one of the most sacred responsibilities of society, that of
dispensing justice, without which a society cannot long survive.
This is the reason why it is incumbent upon us, the leaders of this
judiciary, not only to have this annual award giving, but to foster an
environment that will really encourage a culture of excellence by providing
the needed infrastructure, resources, and support for our judges, clerks of
court, and other court personnel.
And this is what I want to share with you today by way of
encouragement. The Clerk of Court from Angeles City, Atty. Jocson, and Judge
Callanta already knows very well what we have been doing by way of judicial
reform. But allow me to tell those who have not been reached by our pilot
programs yet what has been going on so you will know that eventually the
culture of excellence will be there for more and more of your kindred spirits
to thrive.
We have of course, and Judge Juris has been participant to this, we were
able to have a very successful run of the one-time case decongestion program,
which we called Hustisyeah!. When it was officially launched in 2013, if Judge
![Page 9: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
9
Juris remembers, the judges of Quezon City were so reluctant because they
thought we were going to scrutinize them with the searing lens of a
magnifying lens because they did not know actually that what we just wanted
to do was actually a replication of what our two outstanding Clerks of Court
and what Judge Juris and Judge Tan are already doing in their courts, and
which is to have a commonsensical, pragmatic approach to resolving
congestion by having a genuine inventory of cases. Now since we launched it
in 2013, it has [already resulted] in a 30% caseload reduction in a matter of 14
months. So it is right now being rolled out in Angeles City — and Atty. Jocson
would know about this — in Makati City, Pasig, Davao, and Cebu.
I will tell you already why we need to have success stories of this kind.
When we presented our program to the Department of Budget and
Management (DBM) and really showed them our data, they were just so
floored with the fact that from a case inventory of 33,000 cases — yes we
inventoried 33,000 case files — it was reduced to only 21,000 cases. That
resulted in such a dramatic turnaround of cases that when the DBM was asked
if they can support the hiring of 638 Case Decongestion Officers for 2016, they
immediately said yes. Just imagine for 2016, starting January, we were
provided the funds by the government to hire 638 Grade 18 lawyers and law
![Page 10: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
10
graduates who can help in the further decongestion of our remaining heavily
congested courts. Now we are going to deploy them, and we will be able to
cover already 54% of the total caseload in our courts nationwide. But it could
not be done unless we had a combination of several things. First, a good idea.
And you Judge Juris, you Judge Tan, already have so many good ideas about
how to solve congestion in our courts. Second, present them to funders who
are willing to provide the money for a pilot of these programs. And you see
that in Quezon City because of this outstanding success, so many development
partners are now coming to us and asking to be part of the action. As I told
you it is already being deployed right now in Angeles, Makati, Pasig, Davao,
Cebu, and even in Lapu-Lapu. And for 2016 and 2017 we have money coming
from USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and the
European Union, together with the money that we were able to get from the
national government.
We, however, have to contend with a recent phenomenon we have
noticed which is that the prosecutors seem to be recently increasing the
number of filings of criminal complaints before our courts.
We have also put in place an assisting courts system. Assigning Manila
for example to assist Quezon City and Makati City, assigned Cebu judges to
![Page 11: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
11
assist Lapu-Lapu. And we will have these twinning programs as we keep on
looking at the problem of congestion.
Another very dramatic intervention we have created is the E-court
System — and Justice [Apolinario D.] Bruselas is the head of the Technical
Governance Council on that — which is an automated case management
system on a larger scale than the one set up by Atty. Solomon. You were the
one — aha! by Miss Solomon — but you were able to set up the case
management system, right? So just imagine she is not a lawyer, but she has set
up a case management system. So Justice Apolinario, I hope you can make our
JEA awardees part of the pool of brilliant minds who can keep on giving bright
ideas.
You see, the case management system that is being rolled out now
under the E-court System will give not only the presiding judge and the clerk
of court the ability to find out the status of cases, the number of detainees, the
aging of cases, and the system will automatically generate reports for them. It
also allows the executive judge to monitor what is going on in all the branches
in his jurisdiction. Eventually, it will be linked up to the Court Administrator’s
desktop himself, and eventually at the end of the day it will be linked to me. So
the time is coming when I will be able to see the status of all cases nationwide.
![Page 12: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
12
And it can only succeed if the committee headed by Justice Apolinario, the
Computerization Committee of the Supreme Court which I head, and the
Supreme Court keeps on pushing for this full roll-out of a nationwide
connectivity program. Our endgame is by the end of 2019, most of our courts,
except for a very few missionary posts, will be already interconnected. If we
do succeed, it is really possible that we will be the only agency of government
that has nationwide connectivity. And it is because of people like you that has
been making all of these reforms possible.
Now as of August 2015, last month, Justice Apolinario please confirm
this, there are already 82 operational e-courts covering all the courts in
Quezon City, Angeles City, Lapu-Lapu, and take special note, the Typhoon-
stricken Tacloban City. Just imagine everyone is bemoaning what has been
happening in Yolanda a year and a half after the devastation happened. But
the great secret for the judiciary, there is no way to look but up. And the
courts in Tacloban City are on electronic court mode.
In the second half of 2015, we are going to roll-out 85 more electronic
courts in Davao City, Cebu City, and Makati City. Next year, it will be further
rolled-out to 120 more courts in Manila, Pasig City, and Mandaluyong City. By
the end of 2016, it will be in 287 trial courts, and we will see all these courts
![Page 13: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
13
will be handling about 30% of the total caseload of the Philippine court
system. From 2017 onwards, we are hoping to get the support of the public to
allow us to get more money from Congress so that we can really have a
nationwide roll-out of the E-court System side by side with the nationwide
interconnectivity of all courts in the country.
A feature of the E-court System, the Automated Hearing System, has
transformed the entire courtroom into an automated trial format. This means
that during trial, every activity is captured electronically, right there and then,
including orders issued by the judge, minutes of the hearing conducted, the
testimony taken, the marking of evidence, the issuance of writs and court
processes. This is done by linking the computers of the judge, the
stenographer, the interpreter, allowing them to view and edit in real time the
documents that are being generated. As of date, 100 courts in Quezon City,
Angeles City, Tacloban, Davao, and Lapu-Lapu have been provided the
equipment and training to conduct automated hearings. Most of these courts
are now implementing the same. Automated hearing is targeted to be
implemented in all NCR (National Capital Region) courts by 2016.
The change has been so dramatic and fantastic that one judge even went
to the extent of buying his own monitor, put it on his wall, so that when he is
![Page 14: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
14
typing or entering the edits of the order he is about to issue, everyone in the
courtroom can see it immediately. After the editing is done, it is printed on a
printer that is linked to the stenographer’s desktop and then it is immediately
printed and served there and then. We are now going to do away with the
snail mail system. Every process of that kind saves at least two months for
every incident that has to go through the snail mail system, and where the
judge still has to return to her chamber to dictate the order, to have someone
type it up, for the typewritten document to go back to her, for her to enter her
edits until she is finally satisfied, and for that kind of document to finally be
mailed and reach the parties.
We have already identified more than 20 software application systems
for our ICT (Information Communication Technology) needs, which are
personal productivity and improved court and case management. Judge Tan,
from Silliman you can send all the communications you want to Padre Faura
simply by using our automated system. Nobody needs to generate a report
anymore, the system immediately puts it. All leave applications, all HR
(Human Resource) systems will be online. That is the kind of efficiency we
want to provide you because we value the work-life balance that you have to
achieve so that you can enjoy your beautiful wife and your wonderful family.
![Page 15: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
15
So this is the kind of life we want to give you, members of the judiciary
and our wonderful court personnel. These will be backed up by an
interconnected system that will link up to regional hubs and that will
ultimately go to two data centers: one in the Supreme Court, and one in the
disaster recovery site in Angeles City so that even if the big one strikes us, the
data of the judiciary will not be wiped out.
So the future eventually is digitization because one disaster can wipe
out all our paper documents. You’ve seen that in Tacloban, you saw that in
Cagayan de Oro City. We are going to prevent the kind of catastrophe that
attends those disasters by going digital.
So actually when I had a meeting with the NEDA (National Economic
and Development Authority) Secretary a few days ago, he actually affirmed to
me that it is possible that if we succeed, circa 2019, circa 2020, in really
having nationwide connectivity, we will be the first public sector unit.
Now with respect to your halls of justice, this has been the first time that
money in significant amounts is being given to the judiciary for our
infrastructure budget. We have by 2016 the tune of 210 million for the
building of 12 halls of justice in addition to the multi-year obligated allotment
for the new Supreme Court complex that will rise in Fort Bonifacio to the tune
![Page 16: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
16
of several billions of pesos. I will not give you the budget yet because we need
to bid it. But I can tell it will be really a beautiful building because the
standard is for green high-technology building. But we already have the
commitment of the national government and we are now ready to go through
the stages of groundbreaking.
The Manila Hall of Justice under Justice Presbitero Velasco has just
awarded the DAED (Detailed Architectural and Engineering Design). For the
first time, there is now a contract for the Manila Hall of Justice which had a
groundbreaking for I think seven or eleven times, several times. So now we
have the DAED, there is money for the Detailed Architectural and Engineering
Design. I want the constituents of the Manila jurisdiction to join; I want the
various levels of court leaders to be very active participants. And I have just
agreed with Justice Velasco that part of the Manila Hall of Justice will be the
court of the future. We will have an experimental station there that will really
be high-tech, the same way that they have Rocket 21 in Virginia. So this is our
museum for imagining what can be possible in the future.
Now in addition to what the GAA (General Appropriations Act) is going
to give us in 2016, we have already set aside money not only from the JDF
(Judiciary Development Fund) but also from the savings from the past GAAs of
![Page 17: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
17
the Supreme Court. And we have already of course organized the Justice
Sector Coordinating Council, and Judge Juris is a witness of what is happening
there because we have the justice zone in Quezon City where the key pillars of
the criminal justice system are on coordinated mode. Justice Apolinario
Bruselas is also helping me there.
So you have already seen a roll-out of many benefits to court employees.
In April 2014 everyone is now on automated payroll mode. Court
Administrator Marquez, let’s give him a big hand. So you do not have stuffed
envelopes anymore to the lower courts, you are getting everything through
your ATM. Problema lang sinasanla ung ATM. But if we just put aside that
problem, I have received a lot of thanks because we are on automated system.
Since this year, all lower court employees already have Medocard, right? And
that is an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) that is rolled-out on a
nationwide basis, the first time we have ever been able to provide health
management services of this kind.
So this is all intended to impress upon you the fact that it is the
institution itself that must encourage these individual pursuits of excellence
by continuously encouraging them. And that I am hoping that this tradition of
![Page 18: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
18
excellence will permeate every level of the judiciary from the Supreme Court
all the way down to the first-level courts.
And since excellence means we have to evolve in our way of doing
things and not stand still lest we lose ground, I have suggestions that the JEA
may wish to consider. Two years ago I publicly committed to support your
request for financial support. I have yet to receive such request. So I have
already committed to you that as long as it is possible, as long as it is within
reasonable grounds and within the COA’s (Commission on Audit) strictures, it
will happen. And because I am committed to persuading my colleagues to
releasing money for the pursuit of this JEA, may I ask the awardees and the
members of the Society to help in the development of performance metrics
that may help not only in assisting the Society itself but in rewarding
performance in a judiciary-wide basis. You see, we are trying to have a
professional performance measurement system on place. Not only are we
evolving a performance-based incentive system, and this will take a few years
to design, but it is the judiciary’s performance as a whole also that will inform
the kind of budgetary support that we will get from the national government
and the kind of success that our budget team will get whenever they go back
to Congress. We want evidence of outstanding work, we want performance
![Page 19: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
19
targets that are realizable, that are high enough to be challenging, but are
really going to accurately measure how well we are improving our work. And
the second, is that I wish that the JEA will be expanded to confer awards not
only to judges but also to other court personnel. You have interpreters, you
have sheriffs, you have legal researchers, and such other categories that you
may decide to include.
I know that this is hard work, but the JBC is also well represented here
today and I can affirm to you that without Justice Lagman and Atty. Fernan-
Cayosa, we will not have the string of outstanding achievements that the JBC
has demonstrated in the past years. For the past year alone, can you imagine
the JBC processed 7,000 applications for 109 positions? On top of that, the
processing, if you notice, is already online. And you can just imagine the kind
of work they are going through because you already have essay question-type
examinations for applicants to the judiciary. Their interviews are also more
incisive, more focused and right now they are designing a questionnaire that
will have more directed questions that are intended to catch the applicant
when he will be asked whether he can indeed avoid conflict of interest,
patterned after some of the best practices in other countries. So this is being
highlighted because I think that the Society and the JBC can profit from a
![Page 20: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
20
synergy between their activities. If the Society wishes to validate the
information, applications, and claims that you are getting, the JBC — I’m sorry
three members of the JBC of course, Justice Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez,
forgive me for that lapse — you can just ask Justices Gutierrez, Lagman, and
Atty. Cayosa for validation of the information that the Society is getting. In
turn, they can tell you the sad stories that we are discovering and they can
also tell you about how we can have a more pro-active search system because
it will be inevitable that there are the shy types who do not want to apply. We
have started to float them, those names are starting to float at the top simply
because of a survey system that the JBC is starting to experiment with among
law practitioners. Law practitioners have been volunteering good names to us,
and I thank the IBP for that.
And I can also think of the fact that when the Lawyer Information System
is on place and the Information System works this way, and I’ve already told
the IBP it works this way. The moment a law student applies to take the Bar
examination, he has an identification code, and that code and that data base
follows him all throughout his life. When he becomes a lawyer, eventually he
is going to be given a revalidated code as a member of the Bar. When he enters
the judiciary he is going to have a second revalidation of the code in another
![Page 21: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
21
capacity this time. So it will track the professional life of the lawyer and the
fact that this database will exist in the future means we can have a more
scientific search for the best practices and for the most outstanding work in
the country. And we can make use of a lot of the technologies to push out in
front really outstanding individuals and outstanding performance.
So the call continues from my office to the board of the Society for
Judicial Excellence, I am always ready to help, my colleagues in the Court are
more than ready to help just tell us how we can help. And taking off from the
metaphor of the German poet Bertolt Brecht, that “justice is the bread of the
people,” I thank you that in your corner of the world, in the lightened corner of
your world, you have provided plentiful bread to our people.
I thank the Society for Judicial Excellence and its staff, the Board of
Judges, the screening committees, and the various benefactors for dutifully,
faithfully undertaking this year’s Search for Outstanding Judges and Clerks of
Court, the process which ultimately culminated this year’s awarding. I
commend their untiring efforts, which they cannot chalk up in case of caseload
disposition, as in fact it takes them away from their adjudicative work. But
actually the work that they are continuing speaks of the fact that they
continue to be our modern day heroes, untiring in their efforts to provide
![Page 22: Speech delivered by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A ...sc.judiciary.gov.ph/aboutsc/justices/cj-sereno/2015/CJ Sereno... · being a professor of law at Silliman University, ... notes](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022051718/5a7185257f8b9aa2538cefb7/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
22
what is excellent and what is good for our people. You the collective presence
of whom I am so impressed of, is emerging to be the visible, shining examples
of the best and the brightest in the judiciary.
To this year's Judicial Excellence Awardees, may I exhort you, from the
good book in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, to remain “blameless and
innocent, ...without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine as lights...” (Philippians 2:15)
Mabuhay po kayong lahat, at nananalangin po ako na sa inyong tulong
mas maging malakas ang pananaig ng batas at lalong lalaganap ang
katarungan sa ating bayan.