THE new administration of President Aquino and the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Renato Corona should do something to speed up the wheels of justice in the Philippines. Even simple cases take years to decide; complicated cases become moot and academic by the time they are decided by the courts. This is tantamount to a denial of justice?both for the accused and the complainant.

The Court itself cannot escape blame for this. In fact, it sometimes is the primary culprit in the delay of justice.

Among the slowest to resolve cases are the Senate and House electoral tribunals which are composed of Supreme Court justices and selected members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The politicians naturally vote according to their party affiliations, whatever the evidence presented in the election protests. The justices are expected to provide the balance and the justice, but they are in the minority and are always outvoted by the politicians. Too often, an electoral protest is decided by the electoral tribunals when the term is already over or is almost over. The victory of the protestant becomes an empty victory; the cheater would have already run away with the salaries, allowances and pork barrel of the position. Nothing is left to the winner.

It is the tactic of political cheats to grab the proclamation, and hence the position, and then use dilatory tactics in the trial of the electoral protest.

The latest election protest case decided too late by the Supreme Court is that against Rep. Joel Villanueva of the party-list group Citizens Battle Against Corruption (Cibac), which is supposed to belong to the youth sector. The high court ruled that Villanueva is not eligible to sit in Congress in his last term from 2007 to 2010 because he was already above the 30-year age limit for a youth sector representative.

But Villanueva?s term is already over, and he was not ordered by the Court to return the salaries and other emoluments he illegally collected while he was passing himself off as a member of Congress. That?s one more case of justice delayed, justice denied, which is a black eye to the judiciary.

Another electoral protest still raging is that between Sen. Migs Zubiri and senatorial candidate Koko Pimentel. Zubiri was proclaimed the 12th winning senator in the 2007 elections; Pimentel finished 13th. The latter filed an election protest with the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), assailing the results from 2,658 precincts in Mindanao, mostly in Maguindanao, home turf of the Ampatuan clan.

Zubiri filed a counter-protest, questioning the results in 73,265 precincts all over the Philippines.

To hasten the resolution of electoral protest cases, Rule 79 of the SET provides that the protestant identify pilot precincts which consist of 25 percent of the contested precincts. If in these precincts at least 50 percent of the votes are spurious, then the recount for the remaining 75 percent should continue. If not, the protest should be dismissed.

Pimentel?s pilot precincts showed at least 50 percent spurious ballots. The recount overcame the votes attributed to Zubiri in the proclamation and gave Pimentel more than a 100,000-vote lead.

Zubiri?s pilot precincts, however, showed only very few spurious ballots. But the SET resolution signed by seven of the nine members said: ?It reasonably appears from the results of the initial revision and appreciation of the ballots and election documents in the pilot counter-protested precincts that Zubiri has a prima facie valid cause to pursue his counter-protest. Also, it was reasonably shown that the officially proclaimed results for the 12th senatorial position in the May 14, 2007 election would be affected by the disclosed anomaly. It is therefore warranted that proceedings in the remaining 25 percent of the counter-protested precincts be further conducted.?

The chairman of the SET, senior Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, and Sen. Pia Cayetano dissented.

The view of the majority ?is utterly baseless,? said Carpio. ?Contrary to the majority?s bare assertions, the appreciation reports for Quezon City, Manila, Batangas and Bulacan show that the number of fake or spurious ballots in these areas do not constitute ?more than 50 percent of the ballots? contested in the particular city or province. In fact, the spurious ballots constitute a mere 2.2 percent of the total contested ballots in QC, Manila, Batangas and Bulacan?.

?The results of the initial revision and preliminary appreciation of ballots disclose that Zubiri?s net recovery of votes does not justify the conduct of further proceedings in this case,? Carpio added. ?Accordingly, I vote to dismiss the counter-protest filed by Juan Miguel F. Zubiri.?

Senator Cayetano concurred in Carpio?s dissenting opinion. ?Rule 79 provides for a speedy and accurate process. The decision of the majority will result in further delay, effectively thwarting the will of the people.?

It took the SET three years (half of the six-year term of the senators) to examine the ballots in 20,885 contested precincts. The revision of the ballots in the remaining 52,380 non-pilot precincts, representing 75 percent of the total number of contested precincts in Zubiri?s counter-protest, will surely take more than six years assuming the same pace of revision. The term of the senator would be over by the time the revision is finished.

?This defeats the very purpose of designating 25 percent of the contested precincts as pilot, that is, to dismiss the protest or counter-protest if the results of the 25 percent pilot precincts show no improbability to overcome the opponent?s lead,? Carpio concluded.

However, the majority decision will still have to be obeyed.