{"id":133025,"date":"2017-11-21T21:19:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T02:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=133025"},"modified":"2017-11-21T21:19:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T02:19:58","slug":"sereno-to-judges-stay-apolitical-faithful-to-rule-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/21\/sereno-to-judges-stay-apolitical-faithful-to-rule-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Sereno to judges: Stay apolitical, faithful to rule of law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Aranal Sereno. (Photo by Center for Strategic & International Studies\/Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong> \u2014 Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno asked judges to remain faithful to their sworn duty to defend the Constitution, the rule of law and judicial independence, and resist political pressures amid trying times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are challenging times and it is difficult to keep on saying no to the powers that be, but this is part of the sacred trust for which we have made our vows,\u201d Sereno said in a speech during the unveiling of the new three-storey Regional Trial Courts Building in Valenzuela City on Monday.<\/p>\n

Sereno reminded her fellow magistrates of the \u201cdifficult vows\u201d they made when they took their oath of office, including their duty to \u201cuphold the Constitution and the rule of law dictated never by political winds, but by our conscience and the power of our convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from being incorruptible and committed to the protection of the weak and their rights and the dignity of every citizen, Sereno said that judges must \u201czealously guard our independence as jurists notwithstanding the political consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sereno urged not only the judges and court personnel but also prosecutors, public defenders and private lawyers to strive harder to comply with the Speedy Trial Act and implement the continuous trial rules, which seek to dispose of all criminal cases in as early as six months.<\/p>\n

The Chief Justice said it is not right for litigants, particularly detention prisoners, to suffer from a slow judicial system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the duty of government to make the system work, not that of the detained accused. The detained accused has nothing to do with the process,\u201d she pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must work together to make sure that we have a speedy trial, where the rights of the accused are observed, and the witnesses, the victims and the victims\u2019 families are able to present their cases with enough evidence whether we reach a conviction or acquittal,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The inauguration of the PHP81-million building, which houses nine courts, coincides with the 394th Foundation Day Anniversary of Valenzuela City. The city was named after Dr. Pio Valenzuela, who was part of the Katipunan triumvirate, along with Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo.<\/p>\n

Sereno expressed hope that the new hall of justice \u2014 where the city government and the Supreme Court invested PHP64 million and PHP17 million, respectively \u2014 would \u201censure that the people who we serve will have their rights vindicated, their life, liberty and prosperity secured, and have the dignity that every citizen should expect under the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to her, the city government\u2019s support to put up the building is \u201ca testament to its leaders and people\u2019s commitment to justice, rule of law and love of country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s top magistrate thanked and lauded the people of Valenzuela City and their leaders headed by Mayor Rex Gatchalian, judges and court personnel, and Supreme Court officials for working together to establish the high-tech building that has a local area network, internet and wi-fi facilities, which are building blocks of the judiciary\u2019s court automation program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is to make all courts electronic courts or eCourts, which means that like in advanced countries, we can process our cases through apps,\u201d Sereno said.<\/p>\n

Under the eCourt system, Sereno envisioned a future where lawyers could file pleadings by uploading them online in the comfort of their offices, and check the status of their cases and view their online case records through their computers or smart phones. \u201cImagine a future where all notices to parties are automatically sent via email or SMS,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine judges issuing almost all court orders immediately after cases are heard. Imagine a future where judges managing their court dockets and accessing all their records in the comfort of their homes,\u201d Sereno added.<\/p>\n

She said the judiciary did not only invest in facilities, but also in people responsible for dispensing justice and in restoring people\u2019s confidence in the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Starting next year, Sereno said that after the pilot implementation in some courts, the budget for the maintenance and other operating expenses would be released directly to trial courts.<\/p>\n

Sereno also cited the efforts to increase the number of decongestion officers to help declog court dockets, as well as the hiring of contractual stenographers to augment the existing judicial workforce.\u00a0(PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2014 Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno asked judges to remain faithful to their sworn duty to defend the Constitution, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":79817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[12033,1923],"class_list":["post-133025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-chief-justice-maria-lourdes-sereno","tag-judges","mauthors-christopher-lloyd-caliwan","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}