Advisory council for stronger judiciary to convene next month
The executive, legislative and judicial branches will convene next month to discuss ways on strengthening the judiciary and solve the problems plaguing it, Sen. Francis Pangilinan announced here Saturday.
Pangilinan, who was in the city to attend centennial celebrations at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, said that President Arroyo, Senate president Manny Villar, House speaker Jose De Venecia, and Chief Justice Reynato Puno earlier signed a memorandum of agreement creating the Judiciary, Executive, and Legislative Advisory Council (Jelac).
The Jelac, the Senate majority floor leader explained, is a tripartite body which aims to strengthen the judicial system of the Philippines. Pangilinan is himself a lawyer.
The legislature will host the Jelac next month, Pangilinan said.
Among the issues to be tackled are the possible increase in the judiciary's budget, vacancies as well as the creation of additional courts, case backlogs, and also the lack of prosecutors.
The budget for the judiciary, although it is a co-equal branch of the executive and the legislative, is not even 1%, Pangilinan pointed out. Obviously, something is wrong here, he remarked.
The Jelac may also come up with proposed changes to the manner of appointing judges, a power presently exercised by the Judicial and Bar Council and the chief executive. The Jelac may also come up with its proposals on how to insulate the judiciary from political partisanship, the senator said.
At the backdrop of the creation of the Jelac are the unsolved killings, mainly of journalists and political activists in the country. At the present, the country's conviction rate is roughly 30%, meaning that for every ten cases, only three are convicted, while the rest are acquitted. In Hong Kong, he observed, there are seven convictions for every ten cases.
This, he said, emboldens criminals to carry out their plans with impunity, especially with the thought that they can easily get away with it. The best safeguard against unsolved killings is a strong judiciary, Pangilinan said.
We have to strengthen and modernize the judiciary so that it could reinforce respect for the rule of law, he adds.