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Thursday, March 04, 2004
Maxey: A loss the judiciary cannot afford
By Ram Maxey
Bar None
When a multi-awarded RTC judge, who has been true to her oath, resigns her position at a time when the judiciary as a whole has been under attack due to the many scalawags who populate that particular territory of government, the country loses.
IT'S indeed a sad day when a multi-awarded Regional Trial Court judge resigns because the Supreme Court refuses to grant the judge's request for the creation of two more special courts that would exclusively handle illegal drugs cases.
Judge Adoracion Avisado, of RTC 9 in Davao City, resigned her position effective last Monday in a move that shocked local judicial circles. Her resignation became inevitable after the High Court earlier warned her despite her explanation why RTC 9 had been constrained to calendar for the year 2005 cases filed in 2003. The law provides that a special court judge should dispose of a case in 90 days.
Judge Avisado opined that it would be humanly impossible for her and her staff to discharge their functions under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, given the huge volume of cases and "harassment by some disgruntled litigants or lawyers" - thus the need for more special courts.
The fact that the volume of illegal drugs cases here has taxed to the limit of human endurance the presiding judge and her staff of RTC 9, thus her urgent request for additional special courts, only shows that the drugs menace in this part of the woods is for real. It is not true that in Davao City, the killing of drug pushers is the ultimate solution to the problem when one considers that drug-related cases filed in 2003 have to be calendared for 2005.
It is the Supreme Court's responsibility to provide more special courts to try such cases if the drug problem is to be solved. Judge Avisado cannot be at fault if such cases piled up in her sala to the point that she could not anymore dispose of them within the 90-day period required by law.
Was Judge Avisado ever derelict in her duties and responsibilities? Under her watch, RTC Branch 9 was awarded, take note, by the Supreme Court and the Foundation for Judicial Excellence for Transparency and Advocacy of Judicial Reform in 2001. In 2002 and 2003, RTC 9 was the only court in the country awarded by the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the NDEP and DDB, respectively, for "speedy disposition of cases and for pro-active stance in the administration of justice".
Moreover, RTC 9 was the only court in the Philippines given a Congressional award through the Oversight Committee on Dangerous Drugs last December for its "exemplary performance" in applying RA 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act) of 2002.
In a letter to Supreme Court Administrator Presbitero Velasco, Avisado said she would continue to be an advocate of the Action Program for Judicial Reforms, even in a private capacity.
When a multi-awarded RTC judge, who has been true to her oath, resigns her position at a time when the judiciary as a whole has been under attack due to the many scalawags who populate that particular territory of government, the country loses.
Needless to say, Judge Adoracion Avisado's resignation is a setback to the campaign in Davao City against illegal drugs.
(March 4, 2004 issue)
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