The Supreme Court aims to establish a fully paperless judiciary by 2027 to boost transparency and public trust.

The announcement was made by SC Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier at the World Justice Forum in Warsaw, Poland, on 24 June.

The goal is integral to the SC’s broader Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022–2027 (SPJI), which aims to modernize and open up the justice system to the Filipino public.

Lazaro-Javier spoke on a panel focusing on “Judicial Integrity: Challenges and Opportunities for Strengthening Transparency and Public Trust in Asia,” sharing the Philippines’ initiatives alongside legal experts from Nepal, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

The session addressed critical issues affecting judicial integrity, their impact on access to justice, particularly for marginalized communities, and their intersection with climate justice, environmental protection, and gender equality.

The panel acknowledged the importance of international cooperation and public engagement in building trust in judicial systems.

Showing the SC’s efforts to foster a more accessible and accountable judiciary, Justice Lazaro-Javier detailed several ongoing reforms:

•SC e-Library: This online platform provides public access to court decisions, promoting transparency and public awareness of legal matters.

•Unified Legal Aid Service (ULAS) Rules: These rules mandate lawyers to provide 60 hours of free legal aid, expanding access to justice for those in need.

•Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC): A collaborative partnership between the SC, Department of Justice, and Department of the Interior and Local Government, the JSCC aims to streamline inter-agency coordination, reduce delays and improve accountability within the justice system, notably through its Justice Zones project.

•Judicial Burnout Scale App: Launched to support the mental well-being of judges, this app helps monitor their mental health, which showed the SC’s recognition that healthy judges are essential for effective public service.

Justice Lazaro-Javier bared the significant push towards digitization and beyond the 2027 paperless target, the SC has already begun digitizing case filings and introduced an AI-powered voice-to-text transcription system with 90 percent accuracy to assist in court hearings.

The justice also cited the issuance of Guidelines on Gender-Fair Language and Courtroom Etiquette, promoting equality and inclusivity in judicial proceedings.