SC reorganizes Judicial Integrity Board

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday announced that it has reorganized the Judicial Integrity Board (JIB) to the Judicial Integrity Office (JIO), replacing the five-member JIB with a single Judicial Integrity Officer that will be appointed by the High Court.

In a statement, the SC said the Judicial Integrity Officer will have a four-year term and may be reappointed once. A new officer may also be appointed upon the retirement of the incumbent Chief Justice.

The SC said the JIO is now expressly given the power to conduct fact-finding investigations and to recommend appropriate penalties or clemency against court officials.

The JIO can recommend the appropriate penalties against Presiding Justices and Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals, Shari’ah High Court, judges of first and second level courts, and officials and employees of all courts.

Administrative complaints

The SC said the JIO will directly receive administrative complaints and any complaint received by a court must be referred to the JIO for evaluation.

The High Court added that administrative complaints against members of the SC will be referred to the SC Ethics Committee.

The SC said the JIO may also initiate complaints on its own, upon the SC’s directive or through referrals from other agencies such as the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Audit, the Office of the Ombudsman, or the Department of Justice.

Following this, the JIO will submit a report and recommendation to the SC.

The High Court said the JIO also has the authority to issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents and may recommend preventive suspension during investigations.

Dispute resolution

“For the first time, a dispute resolution mechanism is required for less serious or light offenses involving parties within the same office, branch, or court,” the SC said in a statement.

“Before a case is assigned a docket number, the Judicial Integrity Officer will refer it for a mandatory grievance conference,” the SC added.

During the transition period, the SC said the acting JIB chairperson will function as the Judicial Integrity Officer while the remaining regular members shall serve as consultants to the officer until their term ends.

According to the High Court, the JIB’s personnel shall be transferred to the JIO until its staffing pattern is approved, which will be jointly developed by the JIO and the SC Office of Administrative Services. — BAP, GMA Integrated News