SC lauded on move to appoint more judges

Credit to Author: Bernadette Tamayo| Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2020 17:04:03 +0000

SEN. Juan Edgardo Angara on Sunday said the Supreme Court’s (SC) move to create 50 judges-at-large posts would result in the faster resolution of cases nationwide.

The senator, principal author of Republic Act (RA) 11459, or the “Judges-at-Large Act,” said the implementation of the law would help ensure that justice is served swiftly by unclogging court dockets.

The law mandates the creation of 100 judges-at-large posts for the Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) and 50 posts for the Municipal Trial Courts (MTCs).

The Supreme Court recently announced the creation of judges-at-large posts — 30 RTCs and 20 for MTCs — in partial implementation of RA 11459.

“Our justice system has long been criticized for being excruciatingly slow. The huge caseload of the courts has resulted in the slow disposition of cases, to the detriment of both the victims of crimes, as well as the accused, many of who are innocent but are deprived of their liberty,” Angara said.

“The long wait for the resolution of cases adds to the emotional and financial burden that they have to bear on top of the pain they already experienced. For the accused who are innocent, the fact that they are deprived of their liberty is an injustice to them. This is why we want cases to be resolved expeditiously,” he added.

These appointed judges-at-large will have no permanent salas and may be assigned as acting or assisting judges to any RTC or MTC “as public interest may require.”

They are entitled to salaries, privileges, allowances, emoluments, benefits, rank and title of regular RTC and MTC judges.

“This is the first step towards our objective of decongesting the courts of its dockets. Eventually, the law will be implemented in full and we will have more judges to handle the cases that have piled up in our courts,” the senator said.

The 2020 General Appropriations Act, contains an additional P2.5-billion augmentation budget for the judiciary for the creation of new positions in the Supreme Court and the lower courts; the repair and maintenance of halls of justice nationwide; the hiring of decongestion officers; hazard pay of judges; and to fund the 50 judges-at-large posts.

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