The Supreme Court today launched the Digitized Benchbook for Philippine Trial Courts at the Session Hall of the Supreme Court of the Philippines in Manila, as it reaffirmed its commitment “to give all the necessary assistance and support to our trial court judges so they can effectively perform their duties to dispense justice and maintain the rule of law for a peaceful and orderly society.”
The Benchbook contains information on laws, rules, jurisprudence, and topics concerning the courts which will aid the members of the Bench in their research when crafting their rulings and in carrying out their tasks.
An initiative of the Court’s judicial education and training arm, the Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA), the digitization of the Benchbook for Philippine Trial Courts is part of the Supreme Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI), under its second projected outcome of Innovation.
Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, in his keynote message, stressed the need “to have all the resource materials at our fingertips” to aid the members of the Bench in writing continuously and to not lose their momentum.
“This digitized Benchbook for Philippine Trial Courts is intended to contain the updated pertinent laws, treaties, rules, regulations, and jurisprudence, and the latest issuances of the Supreme Court, each of them searchable, downloadable, user-friendly and ready for use,” said Chief
Justice during the hybrid launch. “Surely, there is no denying that keeping all these necessary information in one sourcebook for our trial courts will be a tremendous boost to our efforts in expediting court decisions and unclogging court dockets. This goal reflects the Court’s unwavering commitment to give responsive and real-time justice to our people.”
The Chief Justice stressed that digitization allows for quicker and more efficient updates to ensure that the information accessed is current and accurate, as well as allows for greater collaboration and information sharing.
Present during the launch were Executive Secretary and retired Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin, Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, Associate Justice Antonio T. Kho, Jr., and Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh.
Also in attendance also were PhilJA Chancellor Rosmari D. Carandang, PhilJA Vice Chancellor Mariano C. del Castillo, Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Remedios Salazar-Fernando, Court of Tax Appeals Presiding Justice Roman G. del Rosario, Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva, and Dean Sedfrey M. Candelaria, Chairperson of the Benchbook Digitization Adhoc Committee. (Courtesy of the SC Public Information Office)