Emphasizing the need to ensure justice officers and personnel can do their jobs “without fear of retaliation,” Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson is pushing for the early passage of a law creating a Philippine Judicial Marshals Service (PJMS) to protect Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, particularly judges and prosecutors, trying criminal cases against notorious individuals.
In filing Senate Bill 1209, Lacson took the cue from “no less than Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta.” He recalled Peralta had stressed the need for judicial marshals to serve as the law enforcement arm of the Court, “similar to the Supreme Court of the United States Police and United States Marshal.”
The Senator clarified that SB 1209 “seeks to create a PJMS under the control and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court whose primary function is to protect, safeguard, watch over, provide security and ensure the safety of justices, judges, court officials and personnel, and the various halls of justice, courthouses and other court buildings and properties all over the country.”
As provided in bill, an initial P50-million funding from the National Treasury will be appropriated for the wages and other expenses of personnel, and for supplies and equipment needed.
Lacson recalled that in the last two decades, no less than 31 members of the judiciary were reported killed, including the five court officials slain during the Duterte administration.
In addition, the bill empowers the proposed PJMS to also mount investigations into reported irregularities, including allegations of graft and corruption “committed by justices, judges, court officials and personnel.”
Moreover, the proposed PJMS shall, likewise, assist in the execution and implementation of court orders.
As provided in SB 1209, the PJMS shall be headed by a Chief Marshal, who shall have the same rank of a Court of Appeals Associate Justice. Assisting the Chief Marshal are three Deputy Marshals—one each for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Each Deputy Marshal shall have the same rank as a Regional Trial Court judge, it added.
The bill further provides that Chief Marshal and Deputy Marshals “must be lawyer and must have been at least a full Colonel in the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police” adding that “they shall be appointed by the Supreme Court en banc and shall serve until age 65.”