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Tuesday, June 07, 2005
RP judicial system is not that bad: judge
By Raquel C. Bagnol
* Survey conducted by expatriate business executives last week shows the Philippines as the ninth worst judicial system among 12 countries
EXECUTIVE Judge Renato A. Fuentes of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 17 Monday said tagging the country as the ninth worst judicial system in Asia and is getting worse is unfair and inaccurate.
"As far as Davao City courts are concerned, that is not true and that's unfair," Fuentes told Sun.Star in an interview.
He said that except for two or three trial courts, each sala is up to date in resolving cases within the given period of three months.
"The survey does not reflect the actual situation in the judiciary. Although I will not deny that there are really delays in decisions, I can vouch for 95 percent performance of the trial courts in the city," Fuentes said.
He justified that two or three courts which seemed to lag behind in resolving and disposing of cases could be because of several factors, including the lack of a presiding judge to resolve the cases.
"Halimbawa nalang sa RTC 9 or the Special Drugs Court, I'm also the presiding judge there and I only spend two days a week there. With the heavy load of cases filed at the Drugs Court everyday, that can't be helped," Fuentes added.
Fuentes reacted to the results of the survey conducted by expatriate business executives last week.
The survey according to the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) ranked the Philippines as ninth among the 12 countries in this year's survey after its ratings fell sharply to 8.10 from 7.71 last year.
The PERC said, "few foreign investors feel very confident working with the legal system" in the Philippines where "laws are built not so much on precedents as on quicksand."
In ranking the countries or cities, the business executives gave weight to how legal systems are used to enforce contracts, resolve disputes, fight intellectual piracy and enforce securities and exchange regulations.
In the PERC rankings, countries and cities were graded on a scale of zero to 10, zero being the best grade possible and 10 the worst.
Hong Kong emerged on top with a grade of 1.73, followed by Singapore, with a score of 1.75. Japan was in third place, scoring 2.73, followed by South Korea, with a score of 3.96. Taiwan placed fifth with a score of 5.07; Malaysia came in sixth with 6.06. India ranked seventh with a score of 7.20, Thailand placed eighth with a grade of 7.65, followed by the Philippines in ninth place.
China's ratings posted the most dramatic reversal, falling four notches to 10th place with a score of 8.15, as expatriates became "increasingly critical" of the country's police and court system, the PERC said. Vietnam was in 11th place, and Indonesia was graded 8.85. (With PR)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (June 7, 2005 issue)
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