Justice Singh is Keynote Speaker in Climate Multistakeholder Conference in Cebu
May 9, 2024
Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh delivers the keynote address on the opening day of the three-day “Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Climate Action through Rule of Law Multistakeholder Conference” on May 7, 2024 at the Sikatuna Hall, Bai Hotel, Mandaue City, Cebu. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
“Future generations cannot exist without women and girls. Thus, protecting and empowering women in relation to environmental responsibilities is essential.”
Thus said Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh, who was the keynote speaker at the opening day of the three-day Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Climate Action through Rule of Law Multistakeholder Conference on May 7, 2024 at the Sikatuna Hall, Bai Hotel, Mandaue City.
Justice Singh stressed that the call to recognize the vulnerable position of women and girls in the context of climate change finds relevance in the broader efforts of the Judiciary to recognize and work for gender equality. “Truthfully, no meaningful change can occur for women and girls especially in the context of the climate crisis, without a reckoning of the justice institutions in our country, so we [the Court] recognize our responsibility, our primary response,” she said.
She put the spotlight on the Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI) which embodies the Court’s dedication to enhancing gender responsiveness throughout the judicial system.
As Co-Chairperson of the Court’s Committee on Gender Responsiveness in the Judiciary (CGRJ), along with Associate Justices Henri Jean Paul B. Inting and Jhosep Y. Lopez, Justice Singh shared how the Court has instituted several policies, practices, and services which are inclusive, sensitive, and responsive to gender.
She cited two ground-breaking studies which the CGRJ commissioned to understand our state of gender responsiveness: “HerStory in Numbers,” which was a study on Gender Representation and Mobility in the Philippine Judiciary, and the Legal Feminism Study which reviewed and analyzed doctrinal trends in gender-related jurisprudence over the past 15 years.
In the HerStory study, Justice Singh said that the CGRJ found there has been a steady increase in the number of women judges in the Philippines in all court levels, except for the Supreme Court. Of the 194 Justices appointed to the Court, only 18 have been women. At present, there are only two sitting female SC Justices—Justice Singh and Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier who is set to retire soon. Also, only two females became Chief Justices, and one was even removed from her position.
Justice Singh also cited the Court’s issuance of the Guidelines on the Use of Gender-Fair Language in the Judiciary and Gender-Fair Courtroom Etiquette to address the longstanding concern regarding the prevalence of masculine language in legal writing. She added that the Court also approved the first edition of the Supreme Court Stylebook which adopted the inclusive language outlined in the Gender-Fair Language Guidelines.
Justice Singh also cited the efforts of the Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC), composed of the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which has identified target reforms to partly respondto the climate crisis. Among such reforms is the creation of the first ever Green Justice Zone in the country in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.
“We are going to expand the Green Zone to the entire province of Palawan. But we will not stop there. We want to have green zones all across the country,” said Justice Singh.
Through the Puerto Princesa City Green Justice Zone, the JSCC will pilot test reforms designed to better enforce environmental protections and rights. Some of these identified reforms are the revision of the Rules of Procedure in Environmental Cases under the Judicial Committee on Sustainability and Environmnetal Concerns; inclusion of environmental cases in the coverage of the DOJ policy on the pro-active involvement of prosecutors in case build up; creation of the Green Book Manual on Enforcement of Environmental Laws and Protection; extension of coverage of the Memorandum of Agreement on eSubpoena to include environmental cases; expediting resolution of cases involving encroachment of protected areas; and ensuring the proper utilization of funds collected as damages, fines and penalties for violations of environmental laws, among others.
The Conference, attended by government agencies, civil society, and academe, was organized by the International Development Law Organization, Philippine Commission on Women, Philippine Climate Change Commission, Philippine Earth Justice Center, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
The three-day “Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Climate Action through Rule of Law Multistakeholder Conference,” which began on May 7, 2024, gathers government agencies, civil society, academe, and development partners at the Sikatuna Hall, Bai Hotel, Mandaue City, Cebu. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh poses with the participants ofthe three-day “Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Climate Action through Rule of Law Multistakeholder Conference” held at the Sikatuna Hall, Bai Hotel, Mandaue City, Cebu from May 7 to May 9, 2024. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)