SC wants Metro Manila courts computerized

THE Supreme Court (SC) estimates that by next year, all lower courts in Metro Manila should be using the computerized system in encoding, docketing and raffling of cases.

As part of the efforts aimed at unclogging congested court dockets and helping solve delays in case management and resolution, High Court has recently implemented its computerization program, the Judiciary Case Management System (JCMS), which piloted at the Pasay City Hall of Justice (HOJ).

Chief Justice Renato Corona personally inspected computer equipments at the Pasay City HOJ, which houses the city’s trial courts.

High Tribunal spokesman and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said that through the JCMS, the Office of the Court Administrator would be able to monitor all new cases filed in the lower courts.

Linking courts all over the country may take a few years, but the High Court hopes that by mid-2011, at least all courts in the National Capital Region are already fully computerized.

Corona vowed to continue programs that will declog court dockets and will allow speedy disposition of cases.

Under Corona’s predecessor, Justice Reynato Puno, the High Court introduced the Justice On Wheels project, which by using a mobile courtroom is designed to improve the access to justice of detainees whose cases have been pending longer than the prescribed detention period for their cases.

Meanwhile, Corona also wants the long-planned construction of the Manila Hall of Justice be started and the renovation of courthouses from all over the country be completed. –Rommel C. Lontayao, Manila Times