NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF LAW
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

Term Paper

COURT HEARING OBSERVATION

Submitted to:

Atty. Mark Dave Camarao

Professor, Criminal Justice System

Submitted by:

Mary Joy Rubecca B. Francisco

Indira S. Prabhaker

LLB-I

November 2018
COURT HEARING OBSERVATION

The Criminal Justice of the Philippines is composed of five (5) pillars, which is first
the Community, second is the Legal Enforcement or the Police, third is the Prosecution,
and fourth is the Courts and lastly the Correctional Institution.

The fourth pillar is the Courts of the Philippines which are the Municipal Trial Courts
and Regional Trial Courts they are the ones who handle cases and issues judgement
after the trial.

In the said pillar we are assigned to visit, observed and interview the members of
the fourth pillar which is the Court. The power and duties of the court and the judicial
officers are stated in the book of Rules of Court, Rule 135 stating the following:

SECTION 1. Courts always open; justice to be promptly and impartially

administered. - Courts of justice shall always be open, except on legal holidays, for the
filing of any pleadings, motion or other papers, for the trial of cases, hearing of motions,
and for the issuance of orders or rendition of judgments. Justice shall be impartially
administered without unnecessary delay.

SEC. 2. Publicity of proceedings and records. – The sitting of every court of justice
shall be public, but any court may, in its discretion, exclude the public when the evidence
to be adduced is of such nature as to require their exclusion in the interest of morality or
decency. The records of every court of justice shall be public records and shall be
available for the inspection of any interested person, at all proper business hours, under
the supervision of the clerk having custody of such records, unless the court shall, in any
special case, have forbidden their publicity, in the interest of morality or decency.

SEC. 3. Process of superior courts enforced throughout the Philippines. - Process

issued from a superior court in which a case is pending to bring in a defendant, or for the
arrest of any accused person, or to execute any order or judgment of the court, may be
enforced in any part of the Philippines.
SEC. 4. Process of inferior courts. - The process of inferior courts shall be enforceable
within the province where the municipality or city lies. It shall not be served outside the
boundaries of the province in which they are comprised except with the approval of the
judge of the Regional Trial Court of said province, and only in the following cases:

(a) When an order for the delivery of personal property lying outside the province is to be
complied with;

(b) When an attachment of real or personal property lying outside the province is to be
made;

(c) When the action is against two or more defendants residing in different provinces; and

(d) When the place where the case has been brought is that specified in a contract in
writing between the parties, or is the place of the execution of such contract as appears
therefrom. Writs of execution issued by inferior courts may be enforced in any part of the
Philippines without any previous approval of the judge of first instance. Criminal process
may be issued by a justice of the peace or other inferior court, to be served outside his
province, when the district judge, or in his absence the provincial fiscal, shall certify that
in his opinion the interests of justices require such service.

SEC. 5. Inherent powers of courts. - Every court shall have power:

(a) To preserve and enforce order in its immediate presence;

(b) To enforce order in proceedings before a person or persons empowered to conduct a

judicial investigation under its authority;

(c) To compel obedience to its judgments, orders and processes, and to the lawful order
of judge out of court, in a case pending therein;

(d) To control, in furtherance of justice, the conduct of its ministerial officers, and of all
other persons in any manner connected with a case before it, in every manner
appertaining thereto;

(e) To compel the attendance of persons to testify in a case pending therein;

(f) To administer or cause to be administered oaths in a case pending therein, and in all
other cases where it may be necessary in the exercise of its powers; (g) To amend and
control its process and orders so as to make them comfortable to law and justice;

(h) To authorize copy of a lost or destroyed pleading or other paper to be filed and used
instead of the original, and to restore, and supply deficiencies in its records and
proceedings.

SEC. 6. Means to carry jurisdiction into effect. - When by law, jurisdiction is conferred
on a court or judicial officer, all auxiliary writs, processes and other means necessary to
carry it into effect may be employed by such court or officer; and if the procedure to be
followed in the exercise of such jurisdiction is not specifically pointed out by law or by
these rules, any suitable process or mode of proceeding may be adopted which appears
conformable to the spirit of said law or rules.

SEC. 7. Trial and hearings; orders in chambers. - All trial upon the merits shall be
conducted in open court and so far as convenient in a regular court room. All other acts
or proceedings may be done or conducted by a judge in chambers, without the attendance
of the clerk or other court officials.

SEC. 8. Interlocutory orders out of province. - A judge of Regional Trial Court shall have
power to hear and determine, when within the district though without his province, any
interlocutory motion or issue after due and reasonable notice to the parties. On the filing
of a petition for the writ of habeas corpus or for release upon bail or reduction of bail in
any Regional Trial Court, the hearing may be had at any place in the judicial district which
the judge shall deem convenient.

SEC. 9. Signing judgments out of province. - Whenever a judge appointed or assigned

in any province or branch of a Regional Trial Court in a province shall leave the province
by transfer or assignment to another court of equal jurisdiction, or by expiration of his
temporary assignment, without having decided a case totally heard by him and which was
argued or an opportunity given for argument to the parties or their counsel, it shall be
lawful for him to prepare and sign his decision in said case anywhere within the
Philippines. He shall send the same by registered mail to the clerk of the court where the
case was heard or argued to be filed therein as of the date when the same was received
by the clerk, in the same manner as if he had been present in court to direct the filing of
the judgment. If a case has been only in part, the Supreme Court, upon petition of any of
the parties to the case and the recommendation of respective district judge, may also
authorize the judge who has partly heard the case, if no other judge had heard the case
in part, to continue hearing and to decide said case notwithstanding his transfer or
appointment to another court of equal jurisdiction.

We visited the Marcos Hall of Justice at Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, dated October
25, 2018 around 8:00 o’clock in the morning for the said observation of the court hearings
that are ongoing for the criminal cases. We visited Branch 12 for the following cases:

1. PP vs Arman Torilla y Calisang for Violation of Section 5, Article 2 of Republic

Act 9165. The prosecutor is Atty. Turqueza and the defendant’s Attorney is
Atty. Balucio
2. PP vs Reyden Aducal y Tablatin for Violation of Section 11, Article 2 of Republic
Act 9165. The prosecutor is Atty. Turqueza and the defendant’s Attorney is
Atty. Balucio
3. PP vs. Reynaldo Bungcayao for Murder Case. The prosecutor is Atty. Turqueza
and the defendant’s Attorney is Atty. Balucio
4. PP vs. Jonathan Sarandi y Tuazon for Frustrated Murder Case. The prosecutor
is Atty. Turqueza and the defendant’s Attorney is Atty. Balucio

The court room is not that spacious and the time of the cases to be heard is not
followed, but despite the size of the room and the delay of the proceeding of the
administration of the cases it went smoothly without any problems. Before you enter the
court room you will see an officer wearing a uniform of the police waiting outside the court
room. During the trial the presiding Judge is Judge Nida B. Alejandro, with the
stenographic reporter, the prosecutor, the defendant’s lawyer and the one who
announces the title of the case every time they proceed to a new case. The voice of the
judge is very calm and authoritative. When we entered the court room, there were
policemen sitting at the side, witnesses sitting in front, the accused wearing the Orange
shirt with the letter “P” at the third row and viewers at the back. In the everyday basis of
the court they held numerous of cases at the same time. There are 10 cases in total to
be administered on that day. However, the cases that was enumerated above almost all
of them are postponed because there is no witnesses to show, except for the case of
Sarandi for the allegation of Frustrated Murder.

The voice of the Prosecutor and the defendants Attorney are very hard to catch
because they are like whispering in the room. The reporter records everything on the said
case, every time the prosecutor talks she is always taking notes, aside from that, before
the cases to be postponed, they are having the agreement of having the case be
postponed and they are setting for another schedule and one of the employees of the
court is going to the location of the witnesses or maybe the relatives of the accused or
complainant and letting them sign a certain paper and reminding them about the date of
the next trial. After signing the said paper, and announcing the next trial date of that said
case the relatives and witnesses of the accused and complainants are leaving the room.
The prosecutor also mentioned to issue a subpoena for a certain person to appear in
court for the trial from one of the postponed cases.

The prosecutor is holding a lot of folders during the duration of the trial, every time
they finished a certain case he will write down the said date of the next trial and set it
aside. The case of Sarandi, there is one witness that was presented in the court to prove
and testify for the following facts. It was the sister of the victim. The prosecutor called the
witness and let her sit beside the judge in the witness stand. The judge told the witness
to talk loudly so that she could hear her. Before proceeding to the examination, they
verified first the name of the witness, the relationship of the witness to the victim and the
address of the witness, then she take her oath. After that the prosecutor shows the
evidences, it was all medical expenses of the victim and the medical certificate. The
prosecutor also mentioned that the witness that they are presenting is not an eye witness,
she is only here to confirm the medical expenses that they paid because the witness
herself is the one paying for the medication of the victim as of the moment. Some of the
evidences are already faded and can no longer verify the numerical figures stated.

The witness did not say any single word after she took her oath and verifying her
identity. While the prosecutor proceeds to the medical certificate, they read the details of
the medical certificate and there are words that is incorporated in the certification that the
Judge questioned. It was about the medical terms used. The prosecutor mentioned that
he cannot elaborate the explanation of the said words because he is not a doctor. The
Judge questioned if why did not invite the attending physician of the victim, the prosecutor
answered that they did but the doctor is currently busy and have a tight schedule of the
week. He mentioned that he will issue a subpoena for Doctor Quilala for the said case.

After that the Judge asked if there are other witness to present however the
prosecutor answered there is none. Finishing few discussions the judge then re-
scheduled the said case next year on the month of February and again one of the
employees let the witness signed and remind her about the date.

What I observed from Judge Nida B. Alejandro during the trial of the following
cases. To be a judge one should be an expert in law and not just k n o w l e d g e a b l e i n
it the said matter. This is to have a fair judgement may it be an
a c q u i t t a l o r conviction to the said case. There should be proper determination
of the punishment because this is crucial on the part of the accused as well as the judge
and the victim to get justice on what have been done.

Another quality that the judge must possess is that they should
be keen observer, in every detail in the presentation of evidence in
the court. If the Judge is not a keen observer, the Judge may overlook
to some small important details that would give effect to the case that
they have in the determination of the fate of the accused.

Last observation is that the Judge is impartial and independent.

When the prosecutor presented the evidences, she doesn’t provide
any comment that tend to imply bias to one of the parties, she only
questioned the prosecutor for clarifications and provides instructions
to give. This is very important to maintain the integrity of the judge
and the court.

I am amazed on how calm and authoritative of the Judge that every word she
uttered is a rule to follow and yet she has a kind and humble face. I also salute the
prosecutor that despite the huge volume of cases that he will finish for that day he
remained compose and calm when he presented all the evidences that are needed.