The Philippine Supreme Court launched an automated case management information systemthe

eCourtfor the countrys trial courts during a June 14 event held at the Quezon City Hall of Justice.
Supported by the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) and previously introduced in specialty courts,
including appeals courts, the system is being piloted in Quezon Citys regional and metropolitan trial
courts, whose caseloads are among the highest in the country.

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Attendees included Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno, Associate Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De
Castro and Associate Justice Mario Victor F. Leonen, all with the Philippine Supreme Court, Court
Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez and Executive Judge Fernando T. Sagun, Jr., with the Quezon City
Regional Trial Courts, and judges and court personnel from Quezon City courts.
The eCourt system is part of the Philippine Supreme Courts initiative to increase court efficiency and
transparency by reducing court staffs administrative workload and providing lawyers and litigants
easy access to case information. Chief Justice Sereno said that the eCourt would speed up court
processes, eliminate possible sources of corruption and ensure greater transparency. It will remove
doubt that money is leaking in the court system, she added, as the system will automatically assign
cases and determine fees, replacing the time-consuming manual process. The chief justice also
demonstrated how the systemwhich she said would put the seal of transparency and good
governance on the courtsworks.

As soon as a case is filed, lawyers and litigants know which court and judge their case has been
assigned to. The system also generates barcodes that allow tracking of case files and progress. It is
constantly updated with information on motions, hearings and decisions, providing court
administrators and supervising judges with real-time information on the performance of individual
courts. Additionally, the public can access case information at one of the kiosks in the courts lobbies.

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, ABA ROLI has worked in partnership with
the Supreme Court since 2011 to develop the eCourt software. ABA ROLI also provided 58 computers.
As they input pending cases into the system, court personnel identified numerous enhancements,
which ABA ROLI helped to develop and implement. Following the pilot phase, the eCourt system will
be rolled out to select trial courts nationwide.

To learn more about our work in the Philippines, contact the ABA Rule of Law Initiative
at rol@americanbar.org.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes

Sereno announced on Thursday, August 25, that "eCourts" will be fully
operational by the end of the year in 287 trial courts.

These courts are handling about 30% of the total caseload in the lower courts.

As part of efforts to decongest the courts, she said 569 case decongestion
officers have been deployed this year in Regions 1-4, 7, and NCJR. 66 more
decongestion officers will be deployed, given available funds.

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Unless we get rid of the case backlogs, we will not be able to meet deadlines on
time, Sereno said.

The High Court launched the electronic courts or eCourts in 2013 to allow judges
and court employees to monitor case incidents in real-time. The case
management system also allows the public to view the status of cases in kiosks
found at the entrance of halls of justice, Sereno said.

In about 3 years or end of 2019, she said eCourts should be operational in 619
courts that account for 46.5% of all cases nationwide.

Drug cases

In her annual meet the press Thursday, Sereno said that to date, 469 drug cases
are pending appeal in the Supreme Court, representing 33% of the total
appealed criminal cases.

As of May 2016, there are 128,368 drugs cases pending in the lower courts,
accounting for 29% of the total 439,606 pending cases in trial courts. In 2015,
there were 55,481 new drugs cases filed, higher than the 37,736 cases filed in
2014 representing a 47% increase.

About 240 more courts have been added to help with the drugs cases. This
means that all 955 regional trial courts are now "drugs courts".

She also said that the Supreme Court has shared its observations about the trial
of drugs cases with the justice department, the National Prosecution Services,
Public Attorney's Office, the National Bureau of Investigation, the interior
department, and the Philippine National Police.

Drug cases are "delayed or dismissed" for the following reasons:

 absence of police witnesses

dearth of prosecutors or public attorneys

weak evidence of the prosecution in relation to the rules on chain of

custody and inventory of seized drugs and paraphernalia

Sereno has repeatedly stressed the importance of using technology in managing

cases under eCourts.

Automating the judiciary (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

3610 reads

The Supreme Court launched recently in the Regional and

Metropolitan Trial Courts of Quezon City a new pilot program, called
eCourt, to automate the trial courts. The aim is to speed up the
delivery of justice by reducing case processing time, eliminate
sources of graft, and improve public access to performance
information in the lower courts.

Brief backgrounder. In the 1990s, the Supreme Court began

computerizing its administrative, personnel and financial processes
via stand-alone programs. Later, during the term of Chief Justice
Hilario G. Davide Jr., which started on Nov. 30, 1998, the Court
embarked on the computerization of the entire judiciary through its
Action Program for Judicial Reform or APJR. Among the many
projects of the APJR is the electronic library which was conceived by
Justice Antonio T. Carpio.

With the support of the US Agency for International Development,

(USAid), the Court, under CJ Davide, pilot-tested in Pasay City the
Case Management System or CAS, a computer program designed to
expedite the resolution of cases through the effective monitoring
and strict observance of time limits of case events from filing to
disposition.

A second APJR computerization project, the Court Administrative

Management Information System or Camis, supported by the
Canadian International Development Agency (Cida), was
simultaneously tested in Metro Manila. It aimed to build and
strengthen the capability of the Office of the Court Administrator to
evolve a system of tracking the more than 800,000 pending cases in
the trial courts.

During my term as chief justice, the Court, with the help also of
USAid, fully computerized the processes at the Sandiganbayan via
an improved version of CAS called Case Management and
Information System (CMIS). The antigraft court was then headed by
Presiding Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, now a member of
the Supreme Court and chair of its committee on computerization.

Transparency and good governance. The eCourt was launched by

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno, Justices De Castro and
Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, Court Administrator Midas P. Marquez and
Executive Judge Fernando Sagun Jr. It is also supported by the
USAid and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative or
ABA-ROLE headed by Robert C. La Mont. It incorporates the lessons
learned in the APJR and improved the past systems in various ways:

First, the new program includes the payment of docket fees, which
will be collected and accounted for more transparently and
systematically, unlike in the manual system which was both slow
and susceptible to corruption.

Second, new cases were automatically raffled, without the use of

the old tambiolos (manually-operated roulettes) which could be
manipulated to enable parties to select friendly judges.
Third, eCourt flagged detention prisoners to show their places and
length of detention. At present, the accused who are too poor to
post bail, or who are charged with capital offenses (and thus not
bailable) are detained indefinitely in cramped and overloaded jails
simply because there is no system to monitor them. Often, they are
forgotten and indefinitely detained.

Fourth, the new system automatically produced periodic and easy-

to-comprehend reports.

Indeed, technology is being harnessed to assist the judiciary to

declog its dockets, open its processes to public scrutiny, and
eliminate occasions for graft. In the words of Chief Justice Sereno,
computerization will put the seal of transparency and good
governance on the courts.

Suggested improvements. Once the pilot in the QC courts is freed of

electronic bugs, it will be rolled out in major economic centers
nationwide. This is, of course, most welcome and long overdue.

However, beyond these improvements, I believe that

computerization should not be restricted to stand-alone systems. It
should encompass the whole judiciary including the appellate courts
and the Supreme Court. I know that under Presiding Justice Andres
Reyes Jr., the Court of Appeals successfully installed its own
computer program and reduced its backlog to a bare minimum.

However, I think the Court of Appeals system, as well as that of the

Sandiganbayan, the Court of Tax Appeals, and the Supreme Court
should be electronically standardized and interconnected seamlessly
with the eCourt system of the trial courts.

Case numbering is an example of an item that needs to be

standardized and integrated in judicial automation. Under the
present system, the case number in the city and municipal courts
(where most cases originate) is not carried through to the regional
trial courts. When the case is elevated to the appellate courts, it is
assigned a new number, and still another when it reaches the
Supreme Court. Worse, trial courts in the various regions have
different ways of numbering their cases.

As a result, it is difficult to identify the origin of appealed cases. This

erratic case numbering requires the tedious and time-consuming
elevation of the hard copies of lower court records before the
appellate courts and the Supreme Court can review them, thereby
causing long delays.

However, once computerization is standardized and interconnected,

the appeal process will be simplified because the original case
records, often quite voluminous, can be electronically elevated with
a click on a computer keyboard.

Finally, the entire system should be connected to the Internet for

easy access by the public.

original source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/55129/automating-the-judiciary

- See more at: http://www.competitive.org.ph/stories/639#sthash.8GU3xXpQ.dpuf

The newly launched e-Court system of the Supreme Court is using a homegrown solution from local
software house Ideyatech Inc., a first step by the judiciary towards automating court processes and
to go paperless.
The e-Court system, which is being funded by the USAID, is an electronic end-to-end case
management system that organizes cases digitally, from filing of complaints to resolution and
enforcement.

Ideyatech specializes on Java technology and is based in Ortigas, Pasig City. It has provided
software services for the Philippine legal sector, including the Court of Appeals, Court of Tax
Appeals, Office of the Solicitor General, as well as other government agencies such the Department
of Agrarian Reform.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno led the launch of the project last June 14 in Quezon City where
the e-Court is being piloted. We can only deliver justice if the systems that will deliver justice are
abled and the e-Court system is a step in the right direction, Sereno said.

The e-Court system allows the capture of basic case information, as well as the tracking and
monitoring of cases, down to the issuance of notices of decision and writs of execution.

It allows automatic computation of court fees and issues official receipts, corresponding to a
generated docket number for new cases. It also allows electronic raffling or assigning of cases which
removes human intervention and prevents assumptions of rigging of cases.

A calendar of hearings is also a feature of the system that allows judges to view happenings on a
daily, weekly, up to an annual basis.

The public can also search for cases according to case number, category, or title, and allows
monitoring of cases in terms of history or status. The e-Court can show the status of active and
pending cases, as well as a notice of overstaying detainees that efficiently reminds the concerned
judge or legal entity.
Sereno said that the system is open for further innovation, including possibly serving court notices
digitally that can be received by lawyers and litigation officers, archiving and retrieval, and the use of
electronic forms that streamline administrative processes.

The project will be pilot-tested in regional trial courts in Quezon City which holds majority of the
cases in the entire Metro Manila. SC Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro, chairperson of
the Computerization and Library Committee, said this pilot testing will hopefully serve as a model
when SC eventually rolls out the project in all other regions in the country.

Working with government agencies on automation projects could be very daunting. Our team,
however, is consistent in addressing the software requirements of our clients in a timely and orderly
manner. Our efforts result not only to successful system implementations, but also ultimately to
contribute to the countrys growth, which is priceless for us, Tan said.

Current Rule of Law Programs in the Philippines

Judicial Reform

Improving judicial efficiency through court automation

Strengthening contract enforcement and alternative dispute resolution
Protecting intellectual property rights
Enhancing judicial integrity by increasing transparency

Access to Justice and Human Rights

Protecting the rights of persons with disabilities

Seeking justice for victims of extrajudicial killings

Judicial Reform

Building upon a decade-long cooperation with local partners to modernize the countrys judicial
system, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) currently implements the Judicial Strengthening to
Build Court Effectiveness (JUSTICE) program in the Philippines. The five-year, multi-million dollar
JUSTICE program is part of a U.S. and Philippine governments initiative to improve the investment
climate and spur economic development in the Philippinesthe Partnership for Growth initiative.

The JUSTICE program combats court ineffectiveness, which a team of U.S. and Philippine government
officials identified as one of the key constraints to growth in the Philippines. ABA ROLI, in close
collaboration with local partners, such as the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, the Office of
Government Corporate Counsel and the Intellectual Property Office, is implementing targeted
interventions to make the Philippine justice system more responsive, reliable and efficient. ABA ROLI
harnesses high level political will and leadership for support in four main areas:

Improving judicial efficiency through court automation

Strengthening contract enforcement and alternative dispute resolution
Protecting intellectual property rights
Enhancing judicial integrity by increasing transparency
Improving judicial efficiency through court automation

Philippine courts are burdened with lengthy backlogs, making use of the justice system ineffective and
unappealing for citizens. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the
Philippines government have identified docket congestion and delay as the most significant barriers to
the timely delivery of justice. To address the core causes of congestion and delay, ABA ROLI is working
with local partners and judicial actors to reform inefficient business processes and court rules. We also
provide much-needed resources to ill-equipped courts and under-trained clerical and judicial staff. ABA
ROLIs program builds upon the success of its past USAID-sponsored judicial reform programs, which
date back to 2003, and targets areas directly related to economic and commercial disputes.

Since 2008, ABA ROLIs technology-driven, results-oriented approach has led to the creation of an
automated case management information system (CMIS) at the Court of Appeals (CA) and the Court
of Tax Appeals (CTA). Following the success of the CMIS system, ABA ROLI automated the Quezon City
trial courts, which are among the busiest court systems in the country, as a pilot effort for a national
court-automation program that would replace time-consuming manual record-keeping and case
management practices.

Additionally, ABA ROLI is working to develop and install an automated case management system, the
e-Court, in selected courts in major economic areas of the Philippines. ABA ROLI will also enhance
automation at the Court of Appeals, the Court of Tax Appeals and the Sandiganbayan (the anti-
corruption court) through additional features designed to improve case management, increase
efficiency and reduce court delay. To support these systems and ensure sustainability, the JUSTICE
program will build the capacity of the Court Management Office and judicial supervisors to utilize the
national e-Court program.

Further, ABA ROLIbuilding on its successful previous initiative to establish small claims courtsis
helping the Philippine judiciary explore and implement reforms to rules of procedure to increase
courts efficiency and accessibility. Under the JUSTICE program, ABA ROLI will conduct an information
campaign to highlight the availability of small claims courts and will help the judiciary determine
whether to expand these courts jurisdiction. ABA ROLI is also assessing Quezon Citys pilot speedy-
litigation rules for possible amendments and nationwide implementation. Additionally, ABA ROLI is
partnering with The Asia Foundation on a one-time docket decongestion effort in select courts with
exceptionally high caseloads.

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Strengthening contract enforcement and alternative dispute resolution

To create a more open and competitive business environment, ABA ROLI is working with the Philippine
judiciary to increase timeliness and consistency in the adjudication of contract disputes and the
predictability of outcomes. Working with an array of local partners, ABA ROLI is striving to enhance
the quality and increase the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) while strengthening contract
adjudication in insolvency cases, facilitating use of small claims courts and building the capacity of the
Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC)the entity that serves as counsel to nearly 800
government owned and controlled corporations. ABA ROLI is partnering with the Department of
Justices Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution, the OGCC, the judiciary and the Philippine Judicial
Academy (PhilJA) to encourage the use of ADR mechanisms as an alternative to traditional court
proceedings in contract cases. Capitalizing on the high awareness of ADR in the Philippines, ABA ROLI
is supporting the implementation of President Aquinos 2012 executive order requiring the use of ADR
in several types of cases between the government and private entities. To help raise private
businesses confidence that their ADR agreements will be upheld in Philippine courts, ABA ROLI is
working with PhilJA to train trial court judges on their obligations to respect arbitration clauses and
domestic and international arbitral awards, and is conducting an orientation program for Court of Tax
Appeals justices and officials from other agencies. ABA ROLI and USAID are also training OGCC
attorneys on ADR.

Top

Protecting intellectual property rights

ABA ROLI is working with an array of stakeholders to help protect intellectual property rights (IPR) in
the Philippines by supporting the implementation of recent laws and amendments, which give national
jurisdiction to certain special commercial courts in Metro Manila. The amendments allow these courts
to issue search and seizure orders for counterfeit goods, manufacturing equipment and related
contraband anywhere in the country while retaining the jurisdiction of local trial courts to issue seizure
orders within their jurisdictions. The new rules also limit the types of relief that defendants in IPR
cases can request and shorten the litigation time for certain types of cases in IPR litigation. Through
the JUSTICE program, ABA ROLI will continue to train judges on IPR laws.

ABA ROLI is also working with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and PhilJA to train
officials from the Philippines Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHIL), the Bureau of Customs and other
government agencies on enforcing the new IPR laws. In addition, ABA ROLI, IPOPHIL and USPTO will
develop a standard operating procedures manual for judges, court employees and other relevant
government agencies.

To further strengthen the fight against IPR violationsincluding across jurisdictionsABA ROLI
compiles regular reports from the recently implemented case management information system to
share with IPOPHIL and other appropriate law enforcement agencies. The system also allows Court of
Appeals division directors to receive an automatic notice when a trial court order to seize counterfeit
goods or instrumentalities is appealed.

Top

Enhancing judicial integrity by increasing transparency

ABA ROLI has helped automate Philippine courts, improving their record system and creating a more
transparent, predictable, consistent and less corrupt justice sector in the country. ABA ROLI is working
closely with the Supreme Courts Public Information Office to publicize these reforms, which give the
public greater access to information and allow court supervisors to ensure that cases are adequately
addressed.

ABA ROLI will also work with The Asia Foundation to engage civil society organizations, law students,
young lawyers, journalists and the public in general to add layers of public oversight into the judicial
appointment and promotion processes. The approach, which draws in part from the foundations
success with its Supreme Court Appointments Watch initiative and its work in Indonesia, will allow
public access to more information about judges qualifications and possible conflicts of interest. Later,
The Asia Foundation will conduct a series of public perception surveys of the judiciary to assess the
efforts impact on the publics confidence in the judiciary.

Top

Access to Justice and Human Rights

Protecting the rights of persons with disabilities

With support from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the ABA Rule of Law
Initiative (ABA ROLI) works to increase access to justice for persons with disabilities (PWDs) by
building both justice sector actors awareness of the rights of PWDs and their capacity to serve PWDs.
ABA ROLI is educating PWDs as well as judges, lawyers and police on the rights of PWDs.
ABA ROLI is assisting a team of legal experts based at the University of the Philippines in producing a
handbook on disability rights for lawyers, judges, court employees and the police. Copies of the
handbook will be distributed nationwide, and the team will develop training curricula and facilitate
nationwide trainings.

Additionally, ABA ROLI is working with a local partner to adapt key aspects of the handbook into a
concise know-your-rights guide for PWDs. The guide will be published in different formats tailored to
the needs of PWDs, particularly those with communication challenges. Its contents will also be made
available in an online video.

Top

Seeking justice for victims of extrajudicial killings

ABA ROLI, through its AusAID-funded program, works to reduce impunity for extra- judicial killings
and forced disappearances in the Philippines. While most prosecutions currently rely on witness
testimony, the program is designed to enhance prosecutors skills in analyzing forensic evidence and
using it in court and to strengthen public attorneys capacity to advocate for victims, witnesses and
their relatives.

To build forensic skills, both in analysis and trial techniques, ABA ROLI cooperates with the University
of Philippines to develop and publish a litigation handbook and a training curriculum on protecting and
analyzing a crime scene as well as introducing forensic and physical evidence in court. The handbook
and curriculum will then be used to train prosecutors, public attorneys and civil society representatives
across the country. ABA ROLI and the University of Philippiness law center will also conduct a moot
court competition among Philippine law schools, with a particular focus on forensic evidence.

Further, ABA ROLI, in partnership with the Center for International Law, will help the Philippine Public
Attorneys Office fulfill its mandate to serve as an advocacy unit for victims of extra-judicial killings
and their relatives through the development, publication and dissemination of an advocacy handbook.
The handbook will detail the various legal and social services available to the victims relatives.

Top
PHL Supreme Court goes
'paperless' with eCourt
system
Published June 14, 2013 3:45pm

By Mark Merueas

In a bid to introduce more streamlined and efficient "paperless

courts," the Supreme Court on Friday launched at the Quezon City
Regional Trial Court the first ever "electronic Court (eCourt)," a
computer-based system to organize and control case workflows,
from filing to implementation.

The computerized system, launched at an event led by Chief Justice

Maria Lourdes Sereno, was being pilot-tested at the QC RTC for
eventual use in all courts nationwide.

In a speech, Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro admitted

the creation of a "case management system" for the judiciary was
"long overdue."

"The choice of Quezon City was purposely done. May this serve as a
model and will rolled out in 12 regions," De Castro said during the
event which was also attended by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen
and Court Administrator Midas Marquez.
For his part, QC Presiding Judge Bernelito Fernandez said he hoped
the new system would serve as a "gateway for quality justice."

"Even court employees nowadays play Angry Birds, Temple Run, and
Candy Crush... at home," said Fernandez, eliciting laughter from the
audience, mostly composed of QC court personnel.

"The judiciary cannot be left behind. And it has to answer to the

growing need compuerize court processes," he added.

Features

The eCourt system can be used to capture basic case information as

they are filed, and tracks subsequent documents filed at the branch
courts. "This ensures that basic case data is entered only once and
avoids repetition in the administrative processes," the SC said,
adding that all pertinent information about cases would be readily
available botht to courts and the public.

The system also minimizes or prevents errors in court fee payments,

by automatically assessing the correct fee to be charged. The
system records payments made for each case and prints out official
receipts.

Assigning of cases or "docketing" as well as raffling of cases to

judges are all done electronically through the eCourt.
The system also monitors and manages important dates relative to
a case, and records different actions made during hearings, as well
as the status of cases.

Decisions and writs of execution are likewise uploaded into the

database.

A "dashboard" also allows a court personnel to customize the panes

to be displayed based on his or her defined role in using the
system. TJD, GMA News