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Query: My friends and I greatly admired your
STAR system which appeared last week in The Times. Why does
the Supreme Court not require its observance by the trial courts?
If you succeeded in using the system for almost three decades, we do
not see any reason why trial judges cannot do the same to uphold
human rights. Can you please unveil your formula in making the
STAR system workable? What other procedures have you adopted to make
the wheel of justice move faster?
Anthony A.
STAR system workable.
Actually, the tool I used to make
is what I referred to as Discovery, an acronym for:
• Determination to finish the
case in one day. This must be accompanied by
• Integrity on the part of the
judge—his name must be clean, and this must be
made manifest by
• Self-sacrifice and
self-abandonment, which will motivate
• Cooperation, charity and
compassion that
• Open and operate the path of
• Virtues of honesty,
hard-work, humility
• Eliciting piety and
righteousness and propelling
• Reverence and respect for God
and neightbor—all designed for the
• Youth and all generations to
come.
With the aid of this formula, I
was able to make the STAR system work. I hope that the present-day
trial judges will use it to attain peace and prosperity for all in
our country.
I am also reminded of another
innovation, the Cow System, which I found to be very helpful
especially when I was still assigned in Iba, Zambales. COW is an
acronym of Court on Wheels. I used to personally inspect the
property sought to be registered to find out whether or not they are
registerable/disposable under the land Registration Law, especially
if such property adjoins the seashore or riverbank. When I was at
the Regional Trial Court in Manila, I used the system to try cases
of vehicular accidents when there existed diverse conflicts in the
testimonies of prosecution and defenses witnesses.
My fifth judicial innovation came
into existence when I was with the Regional Trial Court in Manila.
It was called CARE system—for Christian Approach toward the
Reconciliation of Enemies.
Taking note of the proliferation
of cases between relatives and neighbors, I took pains toward
solving the same. The CARE system called for a preliminary
conference with the warring parties before the pre-trial conference,
which started with a prayer. I informed the parties of the possible
consequences of their dispute: the same would last long and
there was no guarantee as to who owuld prevail. In the
meantime, they would be continuously paying their lawyers—and
their expenses might go beyond the value of what they were fighting
over. Worse, their enmity would last for generations and their
conflict might even proliferate. I urged them to settle their
differences amicably. I likewise reminded them that material
possessions are merely temporary—they cannot be transported to the
next life.
The CARE system was so successful
that roughly seven out of ten cases were amicably settled and
terminated. Obviously taking note of the successful process,
it was adopted by the Supreme Court, but was called mediation.
February revives my memory for my
wife, Eloisa, as we commemorate the forty days after her death last
Thursday. If she were alive, we would be observing our 46th
wedding anniversary on Monday, the 19th. I pray that she is
now at peace at the Etrnal Kingdom of God.
Above all things, let us reflect
on what our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said: “If anyone
loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We
will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John, 14:23)
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