Supreme Court Launches the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations
2022-2027
October 14, 2022
In a special En Banc Session, the Supreme Court formally launched today the Judiciary’s long-term reform program, the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI).
The SPJI is the High Court’s plan of action to address institutional challenges using four guiding principles: the Judiciary’s delivery of justice will be (1) timely and fair, (2) transparent and accountable, (3) equal and inclusive, and (4) technology adaptive. Steered by these guiding principles, the Court targets three major outcomes: Efficiency, Innovation, and Access.
“Today, a century and about a quarter after its establishment, the Supreme Court opens its doors to take its place at the forefront of life as Filipinos know it. Today we remove the shroud that has enveloped our officials and systems in a haze of misperceptions and incomprehension, and present to you in clear and indelible terms what we envision, what we have planned, and what we target to accomplish for our citizenry, and the methodologies we will adopt to achieve our objectives. Today we present with great pride the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027, or the SPJI,” remarked Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo.
Chief Justice Gesmundo underscored that the SPJI is the product of the collective efforts of all the 15 Supreme Court Justices, who are all equally invested in the SPJI, guaranteeing the SPJI’s continuity. “Even after I leave in 2026, even when only the four youngest members of the Court remain until 2036, the SPJI will remain relevant,” noted the Chief Justice.
In addition to the contributions of each Justice, past Members of the Court, especially the retired Chief Justices, were also recognized by Chief Justice Gesmundo as instrumental to the SPJI. “With the SPJI, we honor the contributions of those who blazed the trail towards reform ahead of us, by building on the foundations they have worked hard and laid ahead,” said the Chief Justice. “We must once and for all rid ourselves of the “I” mentality — “I did this,” “I did that,” which forces us to minimize, if not reject outright, the ideas and the contributions of others who came before us,” he added.
As the Court’s “blueprint for action”, the SPJI will continue to evolve through consultations and discussions with stakeholders. “We are not pushing programs down the throats of our judges and personnel, much less our court users,” said the Chief Justice. “The SPJI will engage all stakeholders to make every single one of these programs viable, workable, and reasonable so that they will be easy to embrace and adopt,” he clarified.
The Chief Justice encouraged all stakeholders to invest their time and effort in the SPJI. “I have no doubt that [the SPJI] is our only bridge to a tomorrow that will usher in the advent of responsive and timely justice for the Filipino people,” he concluded.
Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, in his opening address, noted that the launch of the SPJI is “far from just being symbolic. It is our way of promulgating and thus uttering in a public and formal special session a plan of action that we have collectively and collegially agreed upon for the next five years from 2022 to 2027…By promulgating and making [the SPJI] public, we invite cooperation, discussion, and even critique.”
Senior Associate Justice Leonen added: “The plan of action expresses how we are to arrive at achieving the implicit goals and values contained in our Constitution specifically using our role as a constitutional department to achieve the task set out for us under Article 8 of [the Constitution].”
Retired Chief Justices Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro and Diosdado M. Peralta attended the launch held at the Supreme Court Session Hall.
Joining them were other government officials including Civil Service Commission Chairperson Karlo A.B. Nograles, Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevara, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary for External and Legislative Affairs Juan Victor R. Llamas, DILG Undersecretary for Operations Lord A. Villanueva, Department of Justice Assistant Secretary Randolph A. Pascasio, and Police Major General Eliseo Cruz.
Prior to the special En Banc session, an interview with SC Associate Justices Ramon Paul L. Hernando, Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, Mario V. Lopez, and Maria Filomena D. Singh was conducted by journalist Jing Castañeda to discuss key programs of the SPJI. The interview can be viewed on the Supreme Court’s YouTube Account at: https://youtu.be/5pCNdNnCVcU
For more information on the SPJI, you may visit the SPJI page at the Supreme Court website: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/spji/