Judicial independence: An elusive dream?

About two weeks ago, I attended the graduation ceremonies of the Ateneo Law School. I was there both in my capacity as a law professor and parent since my second son, Francis Edward, was part of the 2015 graduating class.

The commencement exercise was graced no less than by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Ateneo President Jose Ramon Villarin, Dean Sedfrey Candelaria, and Fr. Joaquin J. Bernas who was the special honoree for the occasion.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo was the commencement speaker.

Justice Del Castillo gave what I thought was a very practical and down-to-earth commencement speech. He shared several life lessons with the graduating class. He talked about the ideals that an Ateneo law school graduate must live through his life as a lawyer. But even as there are ideals to live by, there are realities on the ground that will test those ideals. To use Justice Del Castillo’s words, “prepare for disillusionment, as many will come your way.” To demonstrate his point, he narrated his experience as a trial judge when he was stripped of his monthly allowance and air conditioning unit of his office for displeasing a local politician. For accuracy’s sake, let me quote verbatim the relevant part of his speech:

“I joined the judiciary from the very bottom. I started as an MTC (Metropolitan Trial Court) judge in an obscure place in San Mateo, Rizal. I had only my small chambers that I also used as my courtroom as none was assigned to me. When I displeased a politician, the only air conditioning unit in my chambers was hastily pulled out making my office oven hot particularly during summer. That would have broken my spirit and made me run back to private practice, but I persevered.

“I worked my way up and was later promoted to Regional Trial Court judge in Pampanga. One time I issued a warrant of arrest against a politician’s relative, and soon enough, I was stripped of the regular monthly allowance given by local governments to judges.”

Justice Del Castillo hit the nail on its head. Quite recently, a Regional Trial Court judge was stripped of his monthly allowance by a provincial government because he issued a temporary restraining order against the province and its officials. Again, for accuracy’s sake, let me quote the pertinent part of the order:

“In an earlier case, the undersigned issued a temporary restraining order against the defendants (provincial government) enjoining the latter from the further implementation of the warrant of levy, and from proceeding with the public auction sale. Ever since, my monthly allowance (honorarium) from the provincial government was withheld.”

Indeed, this undue interference by local government executives is not limited to cases where the province, city or municipality is a party. As shown by Justice Del Castillo’s commencement address, it can even extend to cases where the relatives, business partners, political benefactors, political allies and friends of the local executives are involved in. Just imagine the number of these politically-connected people and it should not be difficult to picture the adverse impact of LGU-provided support on the independence of our courts of law. No wonder our citizenry has been crying for justice at the local level.

The New Code of Judicial Conduct states that “judges shall not only be free from inappropriate connections with, and influence by, the executive and legislative branches of government, but must also appear to be free therefrom to a reasonable observer” (Sec. 5, Canon 1). Yet, the Supreme Court has tolerated support given to judges by local government units. In the process, the independence of the judiciary has been gravely endangered and even compromised, as shown by the cases mentioned above.

It is not surprising then that the Philippines was ranked lowest among the founding Asean nations on judicial independence in the most recent World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness survey. Even Asean newcomer Laos has outranked us on judicial independence.

In a recent dialogue between Chief Justice Sereno and the business sector organized by the Judicial Reform Initiative, this sad state of our judiciary was one of the points that was brought up by the business community.

This is one of the big ticket challenges that Chief Justice Sereno must address. Until the problem is resolved, judicial independence will remain an elusive dream for our people.

(The author, a senior partner of the ACCRA Law Offices and a law professor in the Ateneo Law School, is an active member of the Judicial Reform Initiative. The views in this column are solely his. He may be contacted through [email protected])