SC taps Paranaque court in judicial reforms

MAYOR Edwin L. Olivarez has lauded Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno for choosing Parañaque City as one of the pilot courts in the judicial reforms that she has been implementing in all trial courts throughout the country.

Olivarez personally welcomed SC Administrator Midas Marquez who visited the city recently to personally monitor the on-going implementation of the reforms including continuous trials for the immediate resolution of cases.

“We are elated because being selected as one of the pilot courts in SC’s judicial reform initiatives meant that we met the standards set by Chief Justice Sereno and thus we will strive to make our courts even more acceptable by enhancing both our facilities and providing for the needs in any way we can of our judges and also the litigants” Mayor Olivarez said.

Marquez for his part pointed out the need for judicial reforms because the judiciary has long been criticized in the past for the slow dispensation of justice that frustrates the public especially the ordinary poor litigants.

Aside from continuous trial of cases, Sereno also wants a modern judiciary where technology will be utilized to ensure that justice will grind in real time.
Sereno hopes to fully automate many of court processes by using internet technology especially the e-mail system so that subpoenas and other summons can be served faster and more efficiently.
Under the proposed reform, a subpoena or any other summon will be served by just sending it through e-mail, and the moment that it is received in their server, it would officially become a binding legal document.

Under the present set-up, court summons are served by either sending them through snail mails or by personally handing them to litigants by court employees especially the so called process servers.

Either way, the processes are time consuming and they also contribute in a major way in the piling up of cases in courts.

Olivarez for his part said that his administration fully supports the judicial reform initiatives of CJ Sereno “because it is one of the best ways to show to the people that they are truly sincere in serving them”.

“I believe in the saying that justice delayed is justice denied so we have to see to it that justice is truly served through the immediate resolution of cases before the courts” the mayor stressed.