WITH 44 days left as head of the judiciary, Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin on Wednesday listed some of his accomplishments which include the sanctioning of 21 erring lower court judges and more than 100 lower court personnel.
During his Meet the Press session, Bersamin said disciplining their ranks is part of the four-point agenda that he announced when he assumed as chief magistrate in November last year.
His other programs include the revision of the Rules of Court, enhancing the infrastructure of the judiciary and enhancing access to justice.
From January to June this year, Bersamin said 21 judges were either fined, suspended, reprimanded or admonished for various violations and 94 lower court employees were either dismissed from the service, admonished, fined, reprimanded, suspended and benefits forfeited.
Likewise, a Court of Appeals employee was dismissed from service, while another one from the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan was reprimanded.
In the Supreme Court, eight personnel were either fined, suspended, reprimanded, and admonished, while one was dropped from the rolls for absence without leave (Awol).
“The court recognizes that having ethical and competent members of the Bench and the Bar is essential to the Rule of Law. Hence, it must instill discipline in the ranks of the judges, court personnel and the legal profession, and purge the judiciary of the corrupt, the misfits and the scalawags,” the Chief Justice said.
Meanwhile, for the same period, the Chief Justice cited statistics from the Office of the Bar Confidant showing that 83 lawyers were either disbarred, suspended from the practice of law or notarial practice or both, fined reprimanded, admonished, warned and censured.
Money claims
In fulfilling his promise to revise the Rules of Court in order to make procedural laws responsive to the needs of the times, the Chief Justice cited the increase in the threshold amount for money claims cognizable by the Metropolitan Trial Courts (METCs) under the Revised Rules of Procedure for Small Claims (Revised Rule of Small Claims)—or from P300,000 to P400,000 beginning last April 1.
During its first implementation in 2010, the threshold was only P100,000. “The adoption was aimed at solving the congestion of the dockets of first-level courts brought about by the large number of such cases,” he explained.
During his term, Bersamin said the SC also came out with the Revised Law Student Practice Rule, an amendment to the existing provisions of Rule 138-A of the Rules of Court.
The Revised Law Student Practice Rules is aimed at fast-tracking the shift to experiential legal education to be adopted by law schools.
Under the revised rule, a law student must now be certified to be able to engage in the limited practice of law.
Also under the revised rule, applicants to the 2023 Philippine Bar who have graduated from a foreign school may be admitted to take the examination upon submission to the SC of pertinent certifications.
More courthouses
Bersamin also reported that during his stint, several courthouses and support buildings were inaugurated aside from the acquisition of better equipment.
Furthermore, several family courts have been activated with the appointment of their presiding judges.
“The problem with that, however, is that we are not yet ready to give them the courthouses they badly need…in the meantime, they have to share the existing courthouses which are, as it is, admittedly inadequate, physically speaking,” the chief magistrate lamented.
Bersamin expressed optimism that the Court’s lobbying with Congress will bear fruit so that funds can be allocated to build courthouses.