SC cites two judges, two clerks as 2015 judicial excellence awardees
Two judges and two clerks yesterday were declared winners of the 2015 Search for Outstanding Judges and Clerks of Court at the Manila Hotel.
The Supreme Court (SC), through the Society for Judicial Excellence (SJE), cited the winners for their spirit of sacrifice and service in the judiciary. They are: Judge Rafael Crescencio C. Tan Jr. of Dumaguete City Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 30, Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano Award (Second-Level Court Judges category); Judge Juris S. Dilinila Callanta of Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (Metc), Branch 42, Don Antonio Madrigal Award (Firstlevel Court Judges category); lawyer Mischelle R. Maulion Jocson, Angeles City RTC, Branch 59, in the Clerk of Court (Single Sala)/Branch Clerk of Court (Multi-Sala) Secondlevel Courts category; and Rowena D. Solomon, San Fernando
City, La Union, Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC), Branch 2, in the Firstlevel Courts category.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno, who keynoted the awarding ceremonies, commended all JEA awardees for serving “as inspiration, role models, and even teachers to those aspiring toward excellence.” Chief Justice Cayetano Award Judge Tan joined the Judiciary in 1999 after a stint with the Philippine Army. The Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano awardee was credited for resolving 100 criminal cases and 23 civil cases, out of the 296 criminal cases and 39 civil cases he had inherited when he was appointed RTC Judge on June 22, 2005. Through the effective implementation of the one-day examination of witness rule, the continuous trial of cases, and the pre-trial techniques, Judge Tan managed his case load efficiently, such that as of December 31, 2013, he only had 81 pending cases. His sala, Branch 30 RTC Dumaguete City, is a Special Court for Drug Cases. Don Antonio Madrigal Award Judge Callanta is known for her timely and judicious manner with a high disposal rate in a city which has one of the largest caseloads. Since Judge Callanta was appointed to her post, the number of active cases in the docket of her sala has been significantly reduced from 1,489 to 592. The Don Antonio Madrigal awardee has disposed of 4,696 cases from June 2010 to July 2015, a figure which is significantly higher than the 3,765 total number of cases raffled to her sala during the same period.
Judge Callanta graduated from the San Beda College of Law in 1997. She joined the judiciary as Court Attorney V in the Court of Appeals from 1998 until 2003, when she transferred to the SC as Court Attorney VI. It was in 2010 when she was appointed to the Bench. She was appointed as 2nd Vice Executive Judge in 2012, as 1st Vice Executive Judge the next year, as Acting Executive Judge in 2014, and ultimately as Executive Judge of Metropolitan Trial Courts in Quezon City in May, 2015.
Work flow guide
Jocson does an excellent job not only in giving support to the judge’s work of adjudication of cases but to the latter’s administrative supervision of the court, among many other duties. She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law in 2007.
Jocson has prepared a work flow guide for Branch 59 complete with the mission: “To provide speedy dispensation of justice within the bounds of the law and applicable rules.” The work flow covers the different court processes, including raffling of cases, filing of pleadings and motions, archiving/ monitoring of cases, preparing for trial and duties in actual trials, submission of cases to the judge for decision, case management techniques, and personnel management. In hearings where the court interpreter is not present, she willingly acts as one.
Technology integration
The fourth awardee, Solomon, has “integrated future technologies, including computer proficiency, in both the filing and reporting and retrieval systems” says the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-La Union Chapter in her nomination letter.
In 2002, the SC commended her “exceptional sense of leadership and responsibility in threshing out the mismanaged records of cases in (the MTCC, Branch 2, San Fernando City, La Union) and for painstakingly undertaking, with the assistance of the clerks, the time-consuming and laborious task of examining the records of pending, archived and disposed cases in order to determine the true and accurate status of each and every case thereat.”
In her keynote speech, Sereno commended all JEA awardees for their “excellence forged in the spirit of sacrifice and service: Sacrifice, because to be in the judiciary means foregoing a life of luxury; service, because the judiciary is entrusted with one of the most sacred responsibilities in our society, that of dispensing justice, without which a society cannot long survive.” JEA awardees serve as inspiration, role models, and even teachers to those aspiring toward excellence, she added.