QC judge fielded SC 'briefer,' reiterates judicial reforms

After appointing Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva as Supreme Court "communicator on judicial reforms" last week, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno this time tapped a Quezon City judge to help Villanueva in "briefing" the media about the high court's reform programs.   Villanueva, during a briefing on Tuesday, introduced to the media Quezon City presiding Judge Filomena Singh of the Regional Trial Court Branch 85 as the person officially appointed by Sereno as a "resource person" to tackle reforms in the level of the trial courts.   Last week, Supreme Court spokesperson Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra revealed Sereno's strategy of fielding not just one individual but several communicators to speak on the court's behalf, each one briefing the media on specific fields or topics assigned to them.   Villanueva and Singh are assigned to relay to the public updates or progress in the high court's judicial reform programs.   "Singh will be a resource person on judicial reforms. She will be coming from the ground and will discuss everything that has to do with [reforms] in the lower courts," explained Villanueva.   Singh said she and Villanueva were recruited for the job because there are many projects currently in place to address congestion in court dockets. She said there is a "lack of emphasis" of these initiatives to the public.    "The thrust under the chief justice is to inform you what has happened to these projects,” Singh said. “We will be giving you regular and periodic projects." Small Claims Procedure   Among these projects is the four-year-old Small Claims Procedure, which mandates 1,164 first-level court to hear and decide in one day civil claims amounting to P100,000 and below, not including interests and costs. Filing fees for a maximum claim of P100,000 was reduced to the "barest minimum" of P2,515. The program was pilot-tested during the term of former Chief Justice Reynato Puno in 2008.   Of the 19,463 small claims cases filed in 2011, 15,550 were disposed of for a clearance rate of 79.90 percent. From January to July this year, 7,848 of the 8,809 small claims cases have been decided on for a clearance rate of 89.49 percent, Singh said.   The Quezon City judge also noted the Supreme Court resolution in February approving the Guidelines for Litigation in Quezon City Trial Courts. The guidelines were implemented in April, still under the tenure of Corona, who was removed from office via impeachment.   Singh said the guidelines were created with the judiciary "maximizing its human resources" by tapping judges, prosecutors, public attorneys, and members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Quezon City chapter.”   Included in the guidelines were page limitations for pleadings and memoranda filed by parties, preclusion of postponements except for acts of God or fortuitous events, prohibitions against dilatory motions and non-compliant motions, among others.   The guidelines also included "presumptive receipt" of court notices, in which court notices that have been sent to parties will be deemed returned after 15 days inside Metro Manila and 30 days outside Metro Manila.   Singh also highlighted the recently approved guidelines for judicial affidavits, which will be implemented January next year. The policy aims to cut down by two-thirds the time it takes for witnesses to undergo direct testimony. Presented in a question-and-answer format, judicial affidavits contain a witness's testimony in place of him or her being direct examined.   "The reason why we are reporting it right now, it's not because it had not been implemented but because of the feedback we are getting," Villanueva said.   "If they're good and working in declogging dockets, then the chief justice will continue it," Singh added.   Singh noted that new guidelines in Quezon City court received "very positive reviews" from Quezon City judges, court employees and lawyers who were made as respondents in a survey that showed 64 percent of them being knowledgeable on the guidelines, 74 percent of them being receptive to the guideline changes, and 74 percent believing that the guidelines would speed up litigation in the city. Singh background   Before becoming a Quezon City judge in June 2007, Singh was presiding judge then executive judge of Branch 31 of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City starting October 2002. She was the first Philippine Judicial Fellow at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington DC, the educational arm of the US Supreme Court and the counterpart of the Philippine Judges Association.   She graduated cum laude with a bachelor's Degree in English from the University of the Philippines, and finished law in the same school. She is currently a member of the Faculty of Law at the Ateneo de Manila University. She finished a Masters of Laws degree at the American University in Washington, DC.   She has served in several Supreme Court committees, including the Technical Working Group for Small Claims Court Project, the Quezon City Trial Courts Automation Project, the Committee to Address Case Congestion and Delay, and the Records Disposal Project for Pilot Courts. – Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News