Mount Olympus under attack - My Viewpoint

The speech of Associate Justice Artemio V. Panganiban at the recent Judiciary Night of the Manila Overseas Press Club drew a lot of attention, but perhaps not entirely to the aspect he would have wanted. Mount Olympus, a.k.a. the Supreme Court, has been invaded, he said, by microchips, modems and media. And, he mused, "the lives of the gods have irreversibly been altered."

Some columnists have focused on the alleged invasion of the Court by media. Justice Panganiban pleads for "discreet restraint" in media criticisms. While he concedes that corrupt, incompetent and inefficient judges should be exposed, the journalists' objective should be truth, not "vengeance or cheap entertainment at the prodding of defeated litigants in a terminated judicial combat." He also welcomes fair comment on court decisions if those decisions are first objectively presented. However, he would not countenance "baseless attacks on the person, the honor, the dignity or the alleged ulterior motives of jurists."

Judges, Justice Panganiban asserts, cannot answer media effectively because of inexperience and inadequate access to media. But when subjected to "unwarranted, reckless and wanton attacks, the judicial institution may be permanently damaged and judicial integrity hopelessly undermined." But it is precisely long-term public trust in this institution that is essential to its effectiveness. And, I would add, to its very survival.

It would, of course, be erroneous to read into Justice Panganiban's statements a plea for exemption from public scrutiny, much less a brief for corrupt or non-performing judges. He takes pains to make clear that that is not his purpose. Indeed, although Justice Panganiban does not specifically address this issue in his speech, I am certain that all the members of the High Court are not unmindful of current sharp criticisms of the Judiciary. These criticisms range from continuing delays in disposition of cases to the alleged unwarranted interference of courts in economic questions. As a result, some people feel the public esteem for the Judiciary as a whole is at an all-time low.

For its part, media would insist that Mount Olympus is in no way under "invasion" by media. If the Judiciary feels it is under threat, some journalists argue, it is probably because of perceptions or problems created by judges themselves.

This debate is useful and it does not have to turn nasty and unnecessarily acrimonious. But as it happens, our time, that of media and the Judiciary, is probably better spent in other urgent matters which are more important to ensuring that Mount Olympus lives, as it must live and nurture the gods if our justice system is to survive.

Justice Panganiban himself indicated one such urgent concern, those microchips and modems which are part of the technological revolution now impacting on most aspects of our lives. There are obviously a multitude of weighty and ticklish legal issues in both procedural and substantive law which are bound to preoccupy scholars and judges for many years, but I think the impact of cyberspace would be undoubtedly beneficial to our court system. If we move quickly towards assimilation of cyber technology, trials and decision-making could be enormously simplified and, hence, disposition of cases would be substantially expedited. But the lives of the legal and judicial community would change. Lawyers would have to learn how to do things differently. So would prosecutors and, naturally, judges from the municipal courts to the Supreme Court.

At the Judiciary Night, Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. also caused to be distributed documents which describe a "blueprint of action for the judiciary." It turns out that there is a major, on-going project on judicial reform which focuses on four major areas: (1) efforts to ensure the independence, integrity and accountability of the judiciary; (2) enhancement of knowledge-based adjudication of members of the judiciary; (3) fairness and efficiency of judicial actions; and (4)enhanced accessibility of the justice system by all sectors. We will have more to say about this in future columns, because this program, an unprecedented project undertaken with United Nations assistance, appears to be the first concrete effort to systematically attack the problems of corruption, inefficiency, delay and availability of justice to the poor.

I'm not surprised that the gods of Olympus are feeling a bit uncomfortable these days. After all, whoever thought that gods would have to be transparent and accountable? But transparency and accountability just happen to be the two primary themes of the Davide Watch.

Still, even Mt. Olympus must change!

Ricardo V. Puno, Jr.'s e-mail address: [email protected]