“ESTABLISHING Angeles City as a Justice Zone signifies therefore that the vital justice services will henceforth be rendered more effective by bringing together the coordinative capabilities of each agency of justice for the benefit of the public.”

Thus said Chief Justice and Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC) principal Lucas Bersamin, during the launch of the Angeles City Justice Zone over the week.

According to Bersamin, “The Justice Zone is an area where local justice sector agencies such as the police, prosecutors, judges, public attorneys, and managers of detentions facilities identify problems and arrive at common solutions to address them.”

JSCC members include the Supreme Court (SC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Angeles City is the fourth Justice Zone supported by the European Union (EU) under its Governance in Justice (GOJUST) program. Others are located in the cities of Quezon, Cebu and Davao.

GOJUST is a three and a half year justice program which supports the JSCC at the national level and roll out the Justice Zone concept at the local level as an important mechanism for sustainable and long-term reforms.

“SC, DOJ, and DILG are now in the planning stages of formulating a convergence budget for a set of projects towards improving the capacity, operations and effectivity of our justice sector. With this strategy, cooperation and coordination already occur at the earliest stages,” Bersamin disclosed.

Among the reforms introduced by JSCC so far include the E-Courts for trial courts, automated hearing, continuous trial, e-Subpoena for police, e-Dalaw to facilitate jail visitations, and case decongestion efforts in both the courts and in the prosecution offices. (PR)