Published November 8, 2022, 10:00 AM
The Supreme Court (SC) of the Philippines has been named by the Council of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Chief Justices (CACJ) as head of a working group on the adoption of common principles and guidelines on the conduct of video conference hearings (VCH) in judicial cases within the region.
A working group on VCH was set up by the ASEAN chief justices at the conclusion of the two-day CACJ meeting last Nov. 5 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The adoption of VCH in the ASEAN judiciaries was proposed by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo as he cited the gains achieved by the Philippines’ judiciary in the use of technology-based system and infrastructure at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In his message last Nov. 4 to CACJ delegates and other participants, Chief Justice Gesmundo said “in the interest of consistency, efficiency, and mutual protection, therefore, a CACJ ASEAN protocol on the conduct of video conference hearings would be ideal.”
He said the Philippine judiciary “has successfully adopted the VCH modality for all our courts, including the Supreme Court (SC).”
“Aptly dubbed ‘a child of necessity,’ we issued Guidelines for the VCH to ensure the uninterrupted and timely delivery of our court services despite the continuing threat of the Covid-19 virus,” he also said.
He pointed out that “due to this high success rate, the Supreme Court is presently updating its Guidelines on VCH to transition the use of the rule to a post-pandemic world, making it a permanent device and option in every Filipino judge’s trial toolkit, especially for the best interests of child witnesses, for enhanced victim protection and prevention of re-victimization, for easier access to counsel and even family for detained witnesses and parties; and, in general, for greater time and cost efficiency.”
The use of VCH, which will be further enhanced in the Supreme Court’s (SC) five-year Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations (SPJI), has resulted in the release of 132,916 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) with 2,120 of them children in conflict with the law.
In its meeting with the Philippines’ justice system stakeholders in Davao City last Oct. 24, SC Associate Justice Midas P. Marquez said as of Oct. 13, 2022 there had been 1,139,720 VCHs conducted by the courts nationwide with a success rate of 89.27 per cent.
VCH was pilot tested by the SC in 2019 and utilized during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 so as not to disrupt court operations nationwide.
