Chief Justice Gesmundo: We are not gods
CJ Gesmundo said SC justices must descend from their perch and reach out to the people
CJ Gesmundo said SC justices must descend from their perch and reach out to the people
Supreme Court magistrates will be more accessible to the public to dispel the notion that they are the unreachable "Gods of Padre Faura," Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo has told reporters.
Gesmundo made it clear that he, as the primus inter pares or the first among the co-equal justices of the SC, does not relish the monicker.
And not only Gesmundo as SC Associate Justices Jose Midas Marquez, Jhosep Lopez and Filomena Singh have also expressed the same reservation about being referred to as "gods."
Gesmundo and the SC justices on Wednesday made good their pledge to be more visible to the public by guesting at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum.
The Chief Justice said the series of media interviews by the SC justices is in line with the judiciary's five-year Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations for 2022 to 2027.
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The SPJI will serve as the institutional blueprint of the judiciary's plans and programs for the delivery of "responsive and real-time justice" within five years, he explained.
"The other activity we'd like to focus on is what we call accessibility. The Court must be accessible to ordinary people to lift the shroud of mystery on how the Supreme Court works, on how the judiciary performs its functions," Gesmundo said.
"For a long time, we are the gods of Padre Faura. That is a misnomer. We are not gods, we are not infallible. But, like what was said, we have to descend from our perch to be able to reach out to the people," the Chief Justice enthused.
Gesmundo told journalists that SC magistrates have been going out and attending gatherings in the provinces and entertaining media interviews in the past few days.
"Maybe, you have noticed the justices of the SC are going out of the gates of Padre Faura, traveling to some parts of the country to be able to communicate with all stakeholders in the judicial system.
We listen to judges, lawyers, and ordinary people because they ought to know what we are doing so we can address them properly," he said.
"People should expect media appearances for the justices as they have to inform and answer questions from stakeholders and ordinary people on how the SPJI would benefit them."
Gesmundo said the SPJI is anchored on four guiding principles — timely and fair justice, transparent and accountable justice, equal and inclusive justice, and technologically adaptive management — and aimed at three outcomes such as efficiency, innovation and access.
