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QUERY: The growing number of extrajudicial
killings, which include trial judges and mass media people as
victims, is alarming. Who do you think is responsible for this? How
can this problem be solved? Andy A.
Reply: I believe these
extrajudicial killings are a consequence of the country’s problems
of criminality, poverty, unemployment, and other difficulties.
The problem of delay in the
delivery of judicial services which started to afflict the
Philippines during the early fifties may be considered as one of the
roots of these extrajudicial killings. The delay in the justice
system may, on the other hand, be traced to several factors,
including:
• The adversarial nature
thereof, inasmuch as the due process requirement of the Constitution
(Section 1, Article III of the 1987 Constitution) requires a hearing
where both sides present evidence to establish the facts of the
case, with the plaintiff(s) having the burden of proof. The
situation worsens when the litigants resort to delaying tactics.
• Piecemeal trial practice.
Cases were generally tried on a piecemeal basis. The trial
proceedings are cut up into brief sessions spread out over a period
of time. Cases are set for trial on one day and continued or
postponed to another date until each party has completed
presentation of evidence. It is possible to spread out the
examination and cross-examination of a particular witness over
several sessions, depending upon the number of cases set for hearing
on that date.
• Use of dilatory tactics by
lawyers to gain advantage over the opposing party. Some lawyers even
have a habit of filing unnecessary motions and petitions for review
of interlocutory orders, cluttering the records of the court, hoping
that the opposing party would eventually lose interest in his case
or move for an amicable settlement.
• The heavy volume of cases
handled by some lawyers eventually leads to conflicts of schedule
resulting in postponements that inadvertently delay court
proceedings. This may be due to the uneven distribution of lawyers
throughout the country. Many practicing lawyers are concentrated in
the urban areas, particularly in Metro Manila.
• Further, because of
incompetence and inadequate preparation of some lawyers, many are
not adequately informed of the current trends in the legal
profession or developments in the law, leading to the delay in the
disposition of cases. For instance, the failure to observe the
periods for the filing of pleadings eventually results in judgments
by default.
• Incompetence and ignorance of
the law by some judges may also be considered as contributing to
delay. This applies particularly to those who were appointed only
because of their political connections instead of competence.
• Inefficient court personnel.
Since the respective jobs of court personnel are interrelated, the
absence or incompetence of anyone in the court staff can delay trial
proceedings.
Delay may also be ascribed to
other court-related agencies, like the postal service. Since
pleadings and court processes are usually sent by mail, delays in
the delivery affect judicial proceedings.
The adverse effects of the delay
in the administration/dispensation of justice inspired me to
initiate judicial innovations to make the wheels of justice move
faster, innovations that will certainly arrest the rising tide of
criminality, like extrajudicial killings.
My family and I wish to thank
those who sympathized with us after my wife Eloisa passed away. She
was a very generous person, which generosity ironically must have
caused her untimely death.
Above all things, let us
reflect on the following words of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ:
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and
the one who seeks, finds and to the one who knocks, the door will be
opened. (Matthew, 7:7-8)
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