DOI: 10.5176/2251-3809_LRPP13.71
Authors: Amado Paolo C. Dimayuga
Abstract:
Case congestion and judicial delay have been the primary problems of the Philippine Judiciary for the past decades. Despite the efforts of the Supreme Court to address these problems, the current reforms implemented seem wanting. Based on the data obtained from the Office of the Court Administrator, there is still a large number of pending cases which clogs the dockets of the lower courts. After analyzing the data, the researcher observed that the problem lies in the Regional Trial Courts. This caused the minimal decrease in the total number of pending cases from the years 2003 to 2012. In solving the problem of case congestion and delay in the disposition of cases at the Regional Trial Court’s level, the researcher submits the following recommendations: a) the full implementation and application of the case management system in the Regional Trial Court level; b) the increase in the jurisdiction of the first level courts in civil cases; and c) and lastly, the shift from a purely adversarial to a mixed adversarial and inquisitorial system of procedure.
Keywords: Judicial reforms, delay, congestion, judicial activism, adversarial system
Updating...