By BEVERLY C. PAOYON
ALABEL, Sarangani (January 30, 2012) – The local government’s partnership with the Supreme Court would hasten the dispensation of justice in the province with the turnover of a two-sala Regional Trial Court building Wednesday (January 30).
The “Supreme Court is not alone in the institution of justice,” said Governor Migs Dominguez in his turnover speech.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno accepted from the governor the Deed of Donation of the RTC building here, a year after it broke ground.
Supreme Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez agreed that “justice can only be achieved through the effective coordination and cooperation of all stakeholders in the justice system.”
The judiciary, he said, was pleased that Sarangani invested in “bringing justice closer to its people.”
Marquez said investment in judicial reforms was not very common in the past but he complemented Sarangani where government and non-government sectors alike are “recognizing the importance of fully operational and independent judicial system.”
He said the delivery of justice is “a public service that only the government can credibly provide” wherein improved investment climate and increased “citizen’s access to institutions that protect their liberties” benefit society as a whole.
Dominguez, on the other hand, stressed the need for “accountability and responsibility in building the proper institutions for (our) people.”
He recognized that “many of our institutions in this country are really lacking in many ways. We understand that institutions such as justice, institutions of law enforcement, institutions of education and health are lacking” if left as responsibility of national government alone.
“We all have to acquire responsibility as we are part and parcel of building institutions,” Dominguez said. He recounted many conflicts were emanating from the household, thus mediation and conflict resolution had to be given the top priority.
The barangay justice system in Sarangani has accounted for 96% case efficiency resolution.
The governor said around 3,600 cases were pending in court in 2004 and 600 to 700 prisoners were languishing in the provincial jail designed only to house 300 inmates. Now, provincial legal officer Arnel Zapatos reported at least 705 pending cases left and fewer detainees in the jail.
Atty. Zapatos said improvement of justice system is Sarangani’s testament of its “conviction that access to justice is not the sole job of the courts.”
The Justice Enhancement and Empowerment Program of Sarangani started with a simple battlecry of “Hustisya Ihatod sa Katawhan (bring justice closer to the people)” which eventually strengthened alternative dispute resolution in the barangays, established the mediation center and mobilized a court bus that significantly de-clogged bulk of cases pending in its lone RTC branch 38.
“Literally we institutionalized a mobile court which is now known as the first locally funded enhanced Justice on Wheels in the country” that helped the wheels of justice turn in the province, he said.
The new RTCs would make the initiatives in Sarangani “permanent,” Zapatos said.
Meanwhile, Sarangani lone Representative Manny Pacquiao hoped that the new RTCs would fulfill their primary purpose. (Beverly C. Paoyon/ SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)
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