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10 December 2006 New Diagnostic Study Sets
Guideposts Mahar Mangahas, Linda Luz Guerrero and
Marlon Manuel The proportion of Philippine judges feeling poorly paid has fallen steadily over the past ten years. On the other hand, their physical security is now an important concern, with the great majority saying they need adequate life insurance and a personal firearm. For the first time, judges say that the Continuous Trial System is working. Four out of five believe that court decisions are consistent, meaning they follow precedents. But judges cite increasing problems with the Rules of Court compared to two years ago. Fewer disagree that the rules are too cumbersome, and that the rules encourage corruption. These assessments by the country's judges are found in the new 2005/06 Diagnostic Study of the Judiciary, by Social Weather Stations, a follow-up of the SWS studies Monitoring the State of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (1995/96) and Changes in the State of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession in the Philippines (2003/04). Sponsored by The Asia Foundation with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, and conducted with the close cooperation of the Supreme Court, the three studies employed referenda of judges, giving all the opportunity to express their views. They sent questionnaires to all judges of regional trial courts (RTC), metropolitan trial courts (METC), municipal trial courts in cities (MTCC), municipal trial courts (MTC), municipal circuit trial courts (MCTC), Shari'a district courts and Shari'a circuit courts throughout the Philippines. The latest study mailed self-administered questionnaires to 1,512 judges from October 2005 to February 2006, and elicited 1,072 responses, for an excellent 71% response rate, exceeding the very good 61% and 67% response rates of the 2003/04 and 1995/96 studies, respectively. Judges are younger; caseloads are heavy With many judges' positions having been vacated and re-filled, the new study shows quite a few as relatively new on the job: 22% have at most two years, and 43% have at most five years, of experience as judges. Male judges have a median eight years, and female judges have a median five years, of experience. [Table 1] One-third of judges are responsible for two or more courts. The median caseload is 300 cases per judge: 382 for RTC judges and 236 for the rest. Judges appreciate training Judges continue to stress the importance of proper training for their work, with 61% saying the Philippine Judicial Academy's pre-judicature program should be mandatory for appointment to the bench [Table 2]. Those wanting promotion to be based, to some extent, on attendance in training seminars is now 64%, from 53% two years ago [Table 3]. More judges are satisfied with compensation The proportion of judges who regard their compensation as adequate rose significantly from 17% in 1995/96 to 22% in 2003/04, and then to 36% in 2005/06. At present, only 61% call their compensation inadequate, versus 81% a decade ago [Table 4]. The fringe benefits that judges would most appreciate are health and hospitalization insurance and improved retirement benefits, which nine out of 10 call "very important." They are particularly adamant that the policy of adjusting benefits for retired justices, whenever salaries of incumbent justices are increased, also be applied to ordinary judges [Table 5]. Judges are worried about physical security On the new topic of physical security, the diagnostic study found that 85% of judges need but only 11% have adequate life/disability insurance. Sixty-four percent need but only 16% have a personal firearm with license to carry. Twenty-eight percent need but only 4% have an armed bodyguard [Table 6]. Judges find increasing problems with the Rules of Court
The most common reasons given for the Rules being cumbersome are: They make unreasonable demands on the time and resources of judges; they allow dilatory tactics of lawyers; and they become complex because of numerous circulars [Table 8]. Equally worrisome is the decline in the proportion who disagree that the Rules of Court encourage corruption, from 80-81% in 1995/96 and 2003/04 to 64% in 2005/06. The decline was again due to an increase in fence-sitters, and not in those who see the Rules as conducive to corruption [Table 9]. The Rules perceived as most conducive to corruption are on execution of judgment and provisional remedies. Judges favor Alternative Dispute Resolution Among the judges that have a Court-Annexed Mediation (CAM) program in their area, two out of three are satisfied with the program and with the performance of the accredited mediators [Table 10]. The study discovered a clear tendency for satisfaction with CAM to be greater among judges with heavier personal caseloads. Satisfaction among judges with the Barangay Justice System has risen significantly to 38% in 2005/06, compared to only 22% nine years ago [Table 11]. Judges see improvement in the Continuous Trial System The proportion of judges saying that the Continuous Trial System (CTS) works has risen to a plurality of 43% from a minority 31% two years ago, and the proportion saying it does not work has fallen to a minority 35% now from a majority 60% before. This shows a great improvement in the CTS over time [Table 12]. The problems most cited by judges about the CTS, whether they think the system works or not, is the unavailability of prosecutors (58%), lawyers and litigants (52%), and lawyers from the Public Attorney's Office (50%) [Table 13]. The study found the problem of overclogging of court dockets (48%) directly related to judges' dissatisfaction with the system. Judges see consistency in court decisions Judges were asked if court decisions tend to follow precedents rather than to find exceptions to them, in order to check allegations of "unpredictability" of decisions. SWS obtained ratings for consistency of 81% for the Supreme Court, 81% for the Regional Courts, 81% for the lower trial courts, and 72% for the Court of Appeals [Table 14]. Judges see some corruption The proportions who say there are many/very many corrupt judges or justices are: 17% in reference to RTC judges, 14% in reference to MTC judges, 12% in reference to Court of Appeals justices, 4% in reference to Shari'a Court judges, 4% in reference to Sandiganbayan justices and 2% in reference to Supreme Court justices [Table 15]. The study detected a relation between judges' appraisal of consistency in the decisions of various courts and their perceptions of corruption in those courts: The higher their rating of consistency in decisions of a particular court level, the smaller is their estimate of the number of corrupt judges in that court level. Feedback should be widened and regularized The new SWS study recommends that the Supreme Court institutionalize regular feedback mechanisms for not only trial judges but also for other judiciary personnel, so that all may be consulted on the situation, issues and challenges that they face. Survey background The Diagnostic Study of the Judiciary arose out of an unmistakable need to clarify the reasons and underlying causes of problems found in the judicial system, which were identified, in broad terms, in the 2003/04 study. The Diagnostic Study provided qualitative and quantitative diagnostic indicators of the challenges facing the judiciary, from the point of view of judges. The study was also submitted to the Supreme Court and to Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban prior to his retirement on December 7, 2006. SWS vice president Linda Luz Guerrero was the project director, SWS president
Mahar Mangahas was the lead survey consultant, and Atty. Marlon Manuel,
executive director of the alternative law group SALIGAN, was the law consultant. # Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11 Table 12 Table 13 Table 14 Table 15
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