CJ reaffirms rule of law before Asean
By Nidz Godino
“At this point in our history, I lead strong and united Court that is firmly committed to protect rule of law, to guarantee rights of our people and to honor our obligations to larger community of nations… Philippine Supreme Court stands in unity with our Asean neighbors in our common quest for the best possible future for our region,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo reaffirmed before his Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) counterparts commitment of Philippine judiciary to the rule of law.
Gesmundo said in his opening message at the two-day 10th Council of Asean Chief Justices (CACJ) held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is the first time after two years of meeting with member states virtually that annual meeting was finally conducted in person, with Judiciary of Malaysia as host.
In his speech, Gesmundo also highlighted procedural rules promulgated and the projects of Philippine high court in 2022. This includes Amendments to Rule 140 of the Rules of Court, the Rule on Facilitated Naturalization of Refugees and Stateless Persons, the Rule on Expedited Procedures in the First Level Courts, the Benchbook for Family Courts, the Benchbook for Commercial Courts, and the Rule on International Child Abduction Cases.
In addition, he discussed recently launched Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI), the Supreme Court’s blueprint for action in the next five years.
Gesmundo described SPJI as “documentation of roadmap for both our internal and external stakeholders in groundbreaking reform initiatives targeted to achieve three objectives, efficiency, innovation and access. This will bring about overall goal of delivering responsive and real-time justice.”
He further highlighted high tribunal’s efforts to make lawyers’ Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability up to date and relevant through revisions that include adding chapter on responsible use of social media, among others.
Chief Justice Gesmundo further underscored high court’s shift to technology-based systems and infrastructure, as illustrated by high success rate of online hearings following court’s issuance of Guidelines for Conduct of Videoconference Hearings (VCH).
“Seeing benefits we have reaped from VCH, we will submit Concept Note to propose, as possible area for Asean collaboration under Working Group on future Work, adoption of common principles and guidelines for conduct of videoconference hearings involving parties and witnesses outside territory of State where action is pending, but still within Asean,” he said.
ISKUP! 