Four judges and one clerk of court hailed for judicial excellence

The Supreme Court, in coordination with the Society for Judicial Excellence, announced the winners of this year's Judicial Excellence Awards. Four judges of second-level courts and a clerk of court make up the list of winners. 

 

The 2012 awardees are:

 

Judge Maria Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 7, Manila is the recipient of the Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano Award.

 

Gomez-Estoesta is the Public Relations Officer of the Manila RTC Judges Association and is an active member of the Philippine Judges Association and the Philippine Women Judges Association.   Also, Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim conferred on her this year the Outstanding RTC Judge of Manila award.

 

Judge Geraldine C. Fiel-Macaraig of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 192, Marikina City recieved the Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos Award.

  

In 2001, Fiel-Macaraig was appointed to the Judiciary as Presiding Judge of the Branch 192 of the Marikina Regional Trial Court. From 2005-2007, she served as Vice Executive Judge of the station and was eventually chosen as Executive Judge for two terms, from 2007-2011.

 

Judge Gregorio V. Dela Peña of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 12, Zamboanga City is the Chief Justice Ramon Avanceña Awardee.

 

As of January 2012, Dela Peña’s court had only 347 pending cases as, over a period of six years, he was able to resolve 1,682 cases.

 

Also, Dela Peña was one of the first RTC Judges to render convictions in anti-human trafficking cases.

 

Judge Emily L. San Gaspar-Gito of the Metropolitan Trial Court, Branch 20, Manila is the Don Antonio P. Madrigal Awardee

 

As the Presiding Judge of Branch 20 of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila, San Gaspar-Gito strictly performed and effectively implemented the one-day examination rule for witnesses, the marathon trial for aging cases, and pre-trial techniques.

 

She utilized technology by maintaining an indexing system to track the status of each case without having to look at its records, kept a digital data bank of her cases for accessibility and easy monitoring, and required the translation of numerical information to graphical presentation to make data readily visible and understandable.          

 

The lone Outstanding Branch Clerk of Court of the Second Level Courts is Atty. Maria Christine A. Imperial-Bernarte from Manila’s Regional Trial Court, Branch 24.

 

Imperial-Bernarte has been performing administrative tasks for 20 years. Her leadership style is one which is relaxed and encourages open feedback from her co-workers as she believes that the brilliance of a judge and the efficiency of a clerk of court can only be enhanced by a supportive staff.

 

Also, as the then Naga City Regional Trial Court Branch 24 Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the Clerk of Court, she assisted in the administrative supervision of the 12 branches of the RTC. 

 

Furthermore, for six months, she was also designated as Acting Clerk of Court of Branch 20 in Naga City.

 

She performed all these duties simultaneously.

 

The awardees will be honored in a ceremony to be held on September 24, 2012 at the Manila Hotel. — DVM, GMA News