Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Associate Justice Jose Midas P. Marquez, and other Supreme Court officials pose for posterity with H.E. Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines Miguel Utray (fifth from left) during a courtesy call on the Supreme Court by the Spanish Embassy delegation on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at the Supreme Court En Banc Session Hall in Ermita, Manila. In photo are (from left) Chief of the Support Unit, Directorate for Cooperation with Africa and Asia, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) Irene Seco; Deputy Head of Mission Carmela Barcia-Bustelo; Head of Spanish Cooperation in the Philippines Violeta Dominguez; Head of the Department of Cooperation with the Arab World and Asia, AECID Victoria Tur; Ambassador Utray; Chief Justice Gesmundo; Justice Marquez; Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA) Vice Chancellor Justice Mariano C. del Castillo; Assistant Court Administrator and Chief of the Public Information Office Brian Keith F. Hosaka; Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Technology Officer Jed Sherwin G. Uy; and PhilJA Chief of Office for Administration Atty. Elmer DG Eleria. (Courtesy of the Public Information Office)
Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo expressed his gratitude to the Spanish Embassy Delegation led by H.E. Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines Miguel Utray for their invaluable and continued support to the Philippine Judiciary’s judicial reform efforts, such as the European Union ERASMUS programme Capacity Building for Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines (CALESA Project), Support to Bangsamoro Transition (SUBATRA) Justice and Society Project funded by the European Union and co-funded and implemented by AECID, and the recently concluded First National Shari’ah Summit, during a courtesy call on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at the Supreme Court En Banc Session Hall in Ermita, Manila.
Chief Justice Gesmundo commenced the meeting with a discussion on the success of the four-day Knowledge Sharing on the Modernization of Criminal Law Seminar-Workshop, organized in June 2022 by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, through the Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA), in partnership with the CALESA Project and the University of Malaga in Spain. The said seminar-workshop brought together legal experts, law makers, law enforcers, members of the academe, and the Judiciary to exchange best practices on the development of Criminal Law from the Spanish and Philippine perspectives.
Both the Chief Justice and Ambassador Utray expressed their respective interests in the extension of the CALESA Project. In this light, the Chief Justice also gave the Spanish Embassy delegation a copy of Book I – Knowledge Sharing on the Modernization of Criminal Law, a publication by the PhilJA.
Associate Justice Jose Midas P. Marquez gave an overview of the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI), the Court’s blueprint for reform. He shed light on the recent digitalization of the Bar Examinations and, the planned digitalization of the Shari’ah Bar for 2024.
Ms. Victoria Tur, Head of the Department of Cooperation with the Arab World and Asia, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), expressed her gratitude to Chief Justice Gesmundo for the warm welcome and manifested their commitment for future collaborations in line with Philippine-Spanish Judicial cooperation.
Chief Justice Gesmundo and Justice Marquez were joined by PhilJA Vice Chancellor Retired SC Justice Mariano C. del Castillo, Assistant Court Administrator and Chief of the Public Information Office Brian Keith F. Hosaka, Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Technology Officer Jed Sherwin G. Uy, and PhilJA Chief of Office for Administration Atty. Elmer DG Eleria.
Accompanying Ambassador Utray and Ms. Tur were Deputy Head of Mission Carmela Barcia-Bustelo; Head of Spanish Cooperation in the Philippines Violeta Dominguez; and, Chief of the Support Unit, Directorate for Cooperation with Africa and Asia, AECID Irene Seco. (Courtesy of the Public Information Office)