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MANILA, Philippines — Four presidential candidates on Friday said there should be a judicial reform in order to speed up the processing of legal cases in the country.
During the presidential forum hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Manny Pacquiao, labor leader Leody de Guzman, and former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales revealed their plans to improve the country’s justice system.
“‘Yung judicial reform kailangan na kailangan. Ano ba ‘yung mga kailangan natin sa judicial reform? Ang daming vacancies, hindi mafill-up, kulang ‘yung budget na ibinibigay sa kanila. Kapag hindi nafill-up ‘yung vacancies na-a-affect nito ‘yung speedy trial,” said Robredo.
(Judicial reform is extremely needed. What do we need in judicial reform? There are so many vacancies that could not be filled up because of a lack of budget. When these vacancies are not filled up, the speed of trials is affected.)
Robredo cited her experience as a former lawyer at the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), saying that lawyers like her used to handle many cases and court assignments because of insufficient manpower.
“Dapat mas dagdag na abogado. Kailangan ma-attract mo ‘yung best and the brightest lawyers na pumasok sa serbisyo,” she said.
(There should be more lawyers. You should attract the best and brightest lawyers to enter the service.)
Senator Manny Pacquiao, for his part, also stressed the need for judicial reform and to allocate more budget to the judiciary. He lamented that the government does not have enough lawyers and judges.
“Ang tugon natin dito ay kailangan natin ng judicial reform, reporma sa judiciary. Pangalawa, naghahanap tayo ng magandang hustisya sa atin, mabilis na hustisya, pero ang pinakaproblema, ‘yung budget,” he said.
(Our response to this is judicial reform. Second, we are looking for a speedy justice system, but the main problem is the budget.)
“Magkano lang ang budget ng ating judiciary? Napakaliit lang. Pati mga korte nga, saan ka makakita ng korte, parang nasa toilet lang kayo? Eh ang liit liit, doon kayo naghi-hearing, ang judge nga pwede mo pang kalabitin eh,” he added.
(Just how much is the budget of the judiciary? It is too small. Even courts look like toilets. It is very small. When you attend hearings, you can even poke at the judge.)
The slow progress in achieving justice, said Pacquiao, can lead to negotiations and corruption in the resolution of cases.
While he agrees that there should be judicial reform, de Guzman stressed that social, political, and economic injustices should be resolved.
“Ayoko ng maraming kaso, maganda ‘yung kaunti ang kaso at tingin ko ‘yun ang magagawa natin. Kung mareresolve ‘yan natin at magagawa nating equitable sa lahat ang mga bagay na ‘yan at hindi lamang sa mga malalaking kapitalista, bilyonaryo, kung maaayos ng gobyerno na ang paglingkuran niya ay yung buong mamamayan, hindi yung iilan,” he said.
(I don’t want many cases. It is better if there are few cases and I think that’s what we can do. We should resolve those issues and make these things equitable and not only accessible to capitalists and billionaires. We should let the government serve the public and not just the select few.)
For Gonzales, the government should examine the judicial system, as he also pointed at the lack of manpower and budget in the judiciary.
“Bumuo na po kami ng isang study group na nandoon na ang mga one or two ex justices of the Supreme Court at ilang abogado. Pinag-aaralan na po ang proseso kung paano hahawakan ang mga kaso natin sa Pilipinas para mapabilis,” he shared.
(We already formed a study group with one or two ex justices of the Supreme Court and some lawyers. We are studying the process on how to hasten the handling of cases in the Philippines.)
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