Reform judiciary first

A sense of urgency should be the moving light of the Sereno Court if it is to effect no-nonsense reforms in the judiciary; if it is to replace the slow wheels of justice with fast ones; if it is to eliminate the backlog of cases in courts (including the Supreme Court, quasi-judicial agencies, etc.); if it is to update the archaic rules of court, criminal procedures, etc.; if it is to shed the judiciary of its shameful double-standard of justice; if it is to bring about the much-needed genuine professionalization of the Philippine bar. Those problems have been a curse to the Philippine justice system these many decades. This, despite the many outstanding Filipino jurists and lawyers, past and present. What went wrong? Your answer is as good as mine.

A timeline for judicial reforms—among others, a strict timeline for cases to be resolved in courts—should be set. The Supreme Court should not wait for 18 long years to effect genuine reforms. Any and all that is not real is doomed to fail.

The Supreme Court, Congress and Malacañang should show their collective political will and sincere sense of public service—and not pass the responsibility to the people instead—to finally put an end to a decrepit and dying Philippine judicial system that continues to prey on Filipinos.

It is not wise to do otherwise. It will only mean suicide, anarchy, lawlessness.

God forbid!

—ARJAY SANTOS,

[email protected]