Senator Kiko Pangilinan said that creating a Joint Congressional Commission on Justice System Reform will not only bring about much-needed reforms in the country’s judiciary system, but also provide equal opportunities and access to justice to Filipinos from all walks of life.
In his opening statement during the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights on the modernization of the immigration law and the creation of a justice reform commission, Pangilinan underscored why the commission is necessary.
“The Philippines ranks 97th out of 143 countries worldwide and 13th out of 15 in East Asia and the Pacific with especially weak scores in civil and criminal justice.”
“This is why we believe a joint congressional commission on justice reform is necessary,” the seasoned lawmaker said after noting that the 2025 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index showed that the Philippines ranks 97th out of 143 countries worldwide and 13th out of 15 in East Asia and the Pacific with “especially weak scores in civil and criminal justice.”
“Isang komisyon na nakikinig sa datos at sa boses ng tao, that studies our courts, prosecutors, jails, and police — not to point fingers, but to fix what is broken. Sa pandinig ngayon, maririnig natin kung paano gagawin ng nasabing komisyon para maabot ang katarungan, pagkakapantay‑pantay, at pananagutan,” the veteran legislator stated.
The chair of the justice committee lamented that the study is a reflection of the public’s sentiments on how the justice system works only for the rich and powerful in the country.
The seasoned lawmaker’s proposal to create the Joint Congressional Commission on Justice System Reform through Senate Bill No. 1547 comes amid what he describes as the “largest corruption in the history of the Republic,” referring to the multi-billion-peso flood control corruption.
“Extraordinary times require extra ordinary remedies.”
“It was Chief Justice Puno who said in another hearing that ‘extraordinary times require extraordinary remedies,’ and we would like to think the Congressional Commission on Justice Reform is precisely an extraordinary remedy considering the magnitude of the wanton disregard for the rule of law displayed by the trillions of pesos worth of government funds,” the senator said.
“Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If we are not going to delve deeper into the system of justice in our country and figure out what we should do differently, then the massive corruption will remain unabated,” he concluded.
