Justice System In The Philippines

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The justice system “includes policymaking and law reform, policing, courts and tribunals, dispute resolution, penalties and fines, prisons, corrections and parole, legal assistance and victim support.” (State Government of Victoria, 2015). “Delay in the administration of justice is an age-old problem of courts anywhere in the world” (Muria, 2008, p. 32). In the case of the Philippines, its justice system is slow as attested by various sources and was compared to a very old snail (The Manila Times, 2013). According to statistics, lower courts in the Philippines have to handle a total of more than 1 million cases in a year. From the year 2005-2010, there had been an annual average caseload of 1,059,484, with the ratio of total cases resolved…show more content…
Furthermore, out of the P1.8 trillion national budget in 2012, only 0.7% was allotted to the Judiciary from 0.8% in 2009. Part of the inefficiencies suggested by trends in the statistics may be issues of budget, but it is also important that budgets are properly used (Albert, 2013). These delays as indicated in the statistics affect the welfare of the citizens in the country. Some of the many cases undecided due to these factors are the Ozone Disco Club fire in Quezon City that claimed the lives of 162 persons, and the Maguindanao massacre where 58 people, including 32 media workers, were murdered. In the Ozone Disco fire, those responsible for the tragedy went into trial for almost 19 years before being imprisoned. In the Maguindanao massacre, the court had to hear the bail petitions of some of the suspects years into the trial (Cruz, 2014). The slowness of the Philippines’ justice system stems from the negligence and lack of discipline of those who are tasked to enforce it, yet the problem can be resolved by a more intensive implementation of laws and…show more content…
First, delay tactics by the judicial personnel slows the legal process. One class of delay tactics is the use of excuses for postponement such as illness, negligence, tardiness, absenteeism, among others (Muria, 2008). Such kinds of delay tactics typically stem from the lawyer’s interest to delay the case in an attempt to charge more from their clients or raise the chances of winning the case. Another kind of delay tactic is brought about by the “litigation explosion.” “Litigation explosion” refers to the tendency to undergo litigation under the slightest hint of conflict. This kind of culture makes the process cumbersome and expensive (Robert, 2015). Parties to a lawsuit spend so much time meeting with lawyers and fighting with the other side that nothing gets accomplished. As the parties are dragged under by the burdens of litigation, the system is delayed and the whole society suffers. Aside from delay tactics, corruption is also a major cause of backlog in the justice system. A widely common form of corruption prevalent in the justice system is bribery. It is exemplified by the extortion of money

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