MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday repeated his earlier call to abolish the Court of Appeals (CA), saying it only serves as another layer that delays the dispensation of justice.
“For the sake of our people, let us consider simplifying the process,” he said at the launch of the book on Judicial Institution Building and Reforms hosted by the PDP-Laban Federalism Institute and the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID) in Manila.
“I propose that the Court of Appeals – unless it can speedily resolve cases brought to it and, in other words, unless it can be shown that it facilitates rather than delays the speedy disposition of justice – be abolished,” he said.
Alvarez, instead, proposed the expansion of trial courts in proportion to the population, saying that more courts should be established that specialize in resolving particular cases.
The judges and their staff, Alvarez said, should also undergo management training and further study to better render speedy and fair judgment.
In June this year, he pointed out that the CA could be dissolved because it was only a creation of Congress. Its funds also come from Congress, he said.
Alvarez said only cases as provided for in the Constitution should reach the Supreme Court.
“It’s an insult to the highest court if it has to resolve B.P. 22 cases, or the Bouncing Checks Law,” he said.
“Let us also work on removing the delaying tactics afforded by the present system to lawyers who abuse the benevolence of the courts,” he said. He added there are pilot courts in Metro Manila implementing a continuous trial system.
Courts should be able to clear their schedules to focus on finishing a specific number of cases, rather than juggle so many cases at the same time, he said. “No more back and forth for witnesses who need to travel from out of town. No more witnesses who, because of old age, are already dead by the time they are called to testify. No more pieces of evidence lost with the passage of the years.”
Alvarez did acknowledge that his proposal to remove the CA would have risks. “For example, without the CA, what remedy does a litigant have against a corrupt trial court judge?”
“To balance the slant of power in their favor, I propose stricter legislation to curb corruption within the ranks of the judiciary. Let us make proving corruption on their part an easier task by shifting the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused should certain sets of facts be present. The penalties for corruption committed by our judges should also be stiffer.”
Alvarez was the guest speaker during the event along with former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who espoused social justice and equal protection of the people by institutionalizing the writs of amparo, habeas data and kalikasan during his term.
