Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin orders purge of corrupt in judiciary

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) is set to intensify its crackdown on corrupt judges and personnel of the judiciary this year.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin said he has ordered a “purge” of “misfits and scalawags” in the courts, especially in the provinces where perception of corruption is rampant.

The SC chief said he specifically instructed Court Administrator and spokesman Midas Marquez to start the cleansing with the courts in his home province, Abra.

“I directed (Marquez) to start with (my) home province of Abra. That is a marching order… no matter if they are my relatives or not,” Bersamin revealed in a recent speech.

The Chief Justice comes from a political clan in Abra. He is brother of former governor Eustaquio Bersamin and slain former representative Luis Bersamin Jr.

He admitted that the campaign against corruption in the judiciary should start in courts in the provinces where he believes there still is a strong perception that justice is only for the strong, the influential and the wealthy. 

“Those judges and employees in the provinces who have contributed to this wrong perception about the judiciary will have to go,” the chief justice warned.

Because of this, Bersamin said there is a need to “purge the judiciary of misfits and scalawags and enforce the rules of discipline.”

He said this is why he has set the anti-corruption campaign as one of the priorities in his one-year tenure in the top judicial post and vowed to “institutionalize changes that are designed to expedite the administration of justice.”

Apart from this, the SC chief who was appointed last November also plans to revise the Rules of Court and implement reforms in the Bar exams as well as legal education in the country.

Bersamin admitted that court rules still have provisions that institutionalize delay in resolution of cases, bringing the need “to update our procedural rules to make them embody and be attuned to the technological developments.”  

He explained that such reform “will make the judicial system responsive to the public need for quick dispensation of justice.” 

Bersamin also vowed to initiate reforms in the Bar exams, proposing to law deans to study the “Pass/Fail” approach which is practiced in the US instead of grading the exams and having topnotchers.  

Lastly, the Chief Justice wants the country’s law schools to improve legal education by adopting best practices abroad.?“We should adopt the best practices abroad on the legal clinic to improve the quality of legal education and ensure access to justice,” he added.