CIRCULAR
NO. 13[1987]
TO: ALL
JUSTICES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS AND THE SANDIGANBAYAN, JUDGES OF THE
COURT
OF TAX APPEALS, REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS, METROPOLITAN TRIAL COURTS,
MUNICIPAL
TRIAL COURTS IN CITIES, MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURTS, MUNICIPAL CIRCUIT TRIAL
COURTS, SHARI'A DISTRICT COURTS AND SHARI'A CIRCUIT COURTS
SUBJECT: GUIDELINES
IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
The installation
of the new government of President Corazon C. Aquino and Vice-President
Salvador H. Laurel following the presidential snap elections, raised
the
hopes and dreams of the Filipino people of finally securing for
themselves
and their posterity, the blessings of true independence and democracy
under
the rule of law and regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality
and
peace, as declared in the preamble of the 1987 Constitution. The
re-organization
of the new judiciary was completed last January 30, 1987, after a
careful
screening of all those who were extended new appointments.
With the ratification
of the 1987 Constitution and the restoration of Congress following the
last May 11, 1987 congressional elections, all the structures for a
strong
and democratic Republic, with separation of powers and checks and
balances,
have been put in place. Your security of tenure and the independence of
the judiciary are now ensured. In turn, our primary and fundamental
task
is to restore the full confidence of our people in the Courts. To
succeed
in this endeavor, the complete and dedicated support of all of us in
the
judiciary is needed.
The reorganized judiciary
is tasked with the tremendous responsibility of assisting
parties-litigants
in obtaining just, speedy and inexpensive determination of their cases
and proceedings as directed in Rule 1, Sec. 2 of the Rules of Court.
Delay
is a recurring complaint of every litigant. The main objective of every
judge, particularly of trial judges, should be to avoid delays, or if
it
cannot be totally avoided, to hold them to the minimum and to repudiate
manifestly dilatory tactics.
GENERAL
GUIDELINES
For all
members
of the judiciary, the following guidelines are hereby issued:
[1] All
members
of the judiciary must always strive to live up to the criterion
prescribed
in Article VII, Section 7(3), of the Constitution that "a Member of the
judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and
independence."
[2]
Judges should
keep abreast of the rulings and doctrines laid down by the Supreme
Court
and apply them to appropriate cases regardless of their personal
opinion.
[3]
Judges shall
observe scrupulously the periods prescribed by Article VIII, Section
15,
of the Constitution for the adjudication and resolution of all case or
matters submitted in their Courts. Thus, all cases or matters must be
decided
or resolved within twelve (12) months from date of submission by all
lower
collegiate courts while all other lower courts are given a period of
three
(3) months to do so.cralaw:red
[4] All
decisions
should express clearly and distinctly the facts and the laws on which
it
is based. No petition for review or motion for reconsideration of a
decision
of the Court shall be refused due course or denied without stating the
legal basis therefor. (Article VIII, Section 14, 1987
Constitution).
[5] All
Courts are
enjoined to exercise extra care and circumspection in the issuance of
temporary
restraining orders and preliminary injunctions or improvident or
arbitrary
orders or resolutions that are manifestly marked by grave abuse of
discretion.
They must take note that the effective period of temporary restraining
orders is limited to 20 days and subject to the requirements provided
in
B. P. No. 224 and the Interim Rules.
GUIDELINES FOR TRIAL
COURTS
The following
guidelines
are hereby issued for all trial courts:
[1] Punctuality
and strict observance of office hours.- Punctuality in the holding
of scheduled hearings is an imperative. Trial judges should strictly
observe
the requirement of at least eight hours of service a day, five hours of
which should be devoted to trial, specifically from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00
noon and from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. as required by par. 5 of the Interim
Rules
issued by the Supreme Court on January 11, 1988, pursuant to Sec. 16 of
B. P. 129.
[2] Maximize
use
of pre-trial and discovery procedures. — Pre-trials are not
intended
merely to determine whether the parties can arrive at compromises.
Exhaustive
pre-trials should be conducted to reduce areas of conflict and simplify
issues, secure stipulations or admissions of facts, limit the number of
witnesses, consider the advisability of preliminary reference of issues
to a commissioner and other matters as may aid in the prompt
disposition
of the action. (Rule 20, Section 1 of the Rules of Court).
Judges
should exert
more effort to resolve the remaining issues by judgment on the
pleadings
or summary judgments especially in simple collection cases where the
pleadings
manifestly raise no genuine issues or only sham issues, as enjoined by
Rule 20, Section 3 in relation to Rule 19 and Rule 34 of the Rules of
Court.
[3] Availment
of discovery procedures. - Lawyers and parties should be encouraged
to avail of discovery procedures provided for in Rule 24 to Rule 29 of
the Rules of Court. This is a neglected area in our adversarial
process.
Its use would greatly expedite the trial of cases.
[4] Active
management
of trials, minimum postponements. —
(a) Judges
should
actively manage the trial of their cases by rational calendaring of
cases,
avoid unnecessary postponement of cases, plan the course and direction
of trials so that waste of time is avoided. Judges should closely
supervise
Court personnel so that adequate precautions are taken in sending out
subpoenas,
summons and Court processes to ensure that they are timely served and
received.
(b) A
rational policy
on postponements should be observed by the judges so that the Courts
are
not at the mercy of the lawyers and the parties without at the same
time
imposing abusive, unnecessary and oppressive denial of meritorious
motions
for postponements. Courts should strictly enforce the provisions of
Sections
3, 4, and 5 of Rule 22 on the matter of adjournment and postponements.
Judges should note that under Rule 22, Section 3, the Court has no
authority
to adjourn a trial for a longer period than one month for each
adjournment,
nor more than three months in all, unless authorized in writing by the
Chief Justice.
(c)
Trial of cases
should be conducted punctually, expeditiously and efficiently for the
speedy
disposition of cases.
In
criminal cases,
judges should strictly observe the provisions of Rule 119, Section 2
for
a continuous day to day trial as practicable, until terminated.
(d)
There should
be a rational and realistic calendar management so that only a
sufficient
number of cases are calendared that will permit the judge to hear all
the
cases as scheduled.
[5] Annual
conferences
on pending cases. - Judges should avail of annual conferences
mandated
by the Rules of Court (Rule 22, Section 6) to determine the causes of
delay.
The conference should be held at the end of one year from the day the
trial
proper has commenced and every year thereafter. At the conference, ways
and means should be devised for the proper termination of the
trial.
As
required under
Rule 22, Section 6, a statement of the result of the conference should
be attached to the record.
[6] Inventory
of cases. - There should be a continuous and a physical inventory
of
cases on a monthly basis so that the trial judge is aware of the status
of each case. With the assistance of the branch clerk of court, a
checklist
should be prepared indicating the steps to be taken to keep cases
moving.
[7] Preparation
of concise and brief decisions. - While decision-writing is a
matter
of personal style, judges should endeavor to prepare brief decisions,
orders
or resolutions. Every judge should have on his desk a table or calendar
indicating the cases submitted for decision.
[8] Visitations
by Supreme Court personnel. - In order to assist trial judges and
so
that appropriate audits can be effected, the Supreme Court, through the
Office of the Court Administrator, shall from time to time be sending
out
teams of staff attorneys and personnel of the Office of the Court
Administrator
to conduct visitations of the different courts. This shall be done
periodically
and without previous notice. Such teams shall so conduct themselves so
as not to interfere with the work of the trial judges but shall observe
proceedings, conduct dialogues, make audits of case dispositions and
report
to the Supreme Court their observations and recommendations. Your
utmost
cooperation with these teams is enjoined.
[9] Exemplars
in the community. — Finally, all trial judges should endeavor to
conduct
themselves strictly in accordance with the mandate of existing laws and
the Code of Judicial Ethics that they be exemplars in their communities
and the living personification of justice and the Rule of Law.
July 1, 1987.
[Sgd.]
CLAUDIO
TEEHANKEE Chief
Justice
|