The Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) and the British Embassy, Manila today launched its joint project Capacity-Building on Law and Economic Development Issues for the Philippine Judiciary Curriculum and Training Manual at the Justices Lounge, New Supreme Court Building, Padre Faura, Manila.

Senior Associate Justice Reynato S. Puno and British Ambassador Peter Beckingham each gave a message during the said activity. PhilJA Chancellor Ameurfina A. Melencio-Herrera was also present.

The Project, funded by the British Embassy, is aimed at further enhancing the continuing judicial education of judges and court lawyers, particularly in the field of International Economic Law. The Project’s team of implementers will be tasked to gather and collate relevant materials that will be used in coming up with a compact Manual of Reference, which  will serve as a learning tool for members of the Philippine judiciary and research attorneys on issues relating to International Economic Law. Funded by the British Embassy, the Project runs from April 2006 to March 2007. 

The Project has two main components – the Seminar-Workshop and the Manual of Reference.

The Seminar-Workshop Component entails the conduct of seminar-workshops on international law, including the legal structure of the World Trade Organization and regulation of trade, among others, for members of the Philippine judiciary and research attorneys.  For this purpose, the team has drafted the curriculum that will be used for the seminar-workshops.  The draft curriculum was tested at the International Economic Law class in the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law during the first semester of this school year.  Owing to the very positive response of the students, the team has seen it fit to adopt the same curriculum for the Seminar-Workshop Component. 

The team has scheduled two-day seminar-workshops for Supreme Court research attorneys (November 16-17), Court of Appeals research attorneys (November 21-22), and Commercial Court judges (December 7-8).  The team will likewise have roundtable discussions with SC and CA justices on key International Economic Law issues sometime in December.           

The Manual of Reference Component, on the other hand, involves the gathering and collation of all relevant materials that will be used to come up with a compact Manual of Reference. In this regard, the team has contracted CD Technologies Asia to help in developing a Manual of Reference in both hard copy and CD-ROM formats.  The hard copy version will contain the lecture summaries from the two-day seminar-workshops, including the speakers’ PowerPoint outlines, and some key reference materials, while the CD-ROM version will contain everything in the hard copy format, with additional reference materials such as the full text of relevant Philippine laws and jurisprudence and links to pertinent internet websites.