Marquez outlines five-year judicial reform plan if named chief justice

Supreme Court Associate Justice Midas Marquez has proposed a five-year judicial reform plan aimed at reducing court backlogs, expanding digital services, improving working conditions for court personnel and strengthening public access to justice if he becomes the next chief justice.

In his presentation of the proposed Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2.0 (2028-2032), Marquez said the judiciary should build on reforms under the current Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027, institutionalize successful programs and make people development central to judicial modernization.

“My goal is not to begin anew, but to sustain and strengthen transformative reforms already underway,” Marquez said, proposing a people-centered approach that uses technology to improve the delivery of justice.

He said the judiciary’s performance depended not only on justices and judges but also on court employees at all levels, whose competence, integrity and patience help shape public confidence in the justice system.

Marquez outlined eight strategic priorities: institutionalizing existing reforms, developing personnel, improving court services, strengthening fiscal autonomy, pursuing digital transformation, continuously reviewing court rules, reforming the Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA), and strengthening the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

One of his key targets is to ensure that, by 2032, courts are no longer overburdened by excessive caseloads.

He proposed a nationwide study of court dockets to identify the causes of delays and determine which types of cases take the longest to resolve. The findings would guide capacity-building programs and specialized training for judges, as well as the possible creation of additional courts in areas where caseloads warrant them.

“By 2032, we should no longer have over-burdened courts,” he said.

He also proposed improving court facilities and information and communications technology infrastructure, expanding mobile justice services in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, and making courthouses more accessible and child-friendly.

To improve public access to judicial information, Marquez said the judiciary could establish artificial intelligence-assisted information portals and help-desk chatbots to provide court users with faster responses to inquiries.

He also called for technological and administrative measures to speed up the release and online publication of court decisions and resolutions once finalized.

Marquez said public confidence in the courts depended not only on the fairness of judicial decisions but also on the timeliness of proceedings, the courtesy of court personnel and the accessibility of information.

He proposed strengthening judicial communications and public relations through partnerships with media practitioners to promote legal literacy, transparency and public understanding of court procedures.

On personnel development, Marquez proposed training and leadership programs for justices, judges, court officials and employees, as well as succession planning to develop future judicial leaders.

He also called for better working conditions, employee wellness programs and a workplace culture that promotes health, fitness and professional competence.

“We will strive to give them the best working conditions, but we will also demand from them the best service for court users and the public,” he said.

Marquez also proposed allowing persons deprived of liberty to participate in the judiciary’s digitization efforts by assigning them to digitize non-sensitive court records for appropriate compensation.

He said the initiative could support their rehabilitation and eventual reintegration into society while advancing the judiciary’s modernization program.

On fiscal autonomy, Marquez said court staffing patterns should be reviewed to meet the demands of a digitalized judiciary. He also proposed rationalizing and equalizing employee benefits across the judicial system and studying the possibility of standardized allowances for judges nationwide to replace arrangements currently provided by local government units.

He cited Republic Act 12233, or the Judiciary Fiscal Autonomy Act of 2025, as a basis for revisiting the judiciary’s staffing and financial arrangements.

Marquez also committed to continuing the modernization of court processes, including electronic filing and the digitization of court records. He proposed studying how a more efficient judicial system could generate additional revenue for judicial programs and improve resource management.

He said the judiciary should regularly assess the effectiveness of its rules and procedures, particularly the revised Rules of Court scheduled to take effect in June 2027.

He proposed conducting information campaigns and consultations before the new rules take effect, followed by continued monitoring to identify gaps and make further improvements.

The reforms, he said, should eliminate outdated paper-heavy procedures, streamline timelines and address chronic case backlogs while making legal proceedings more accessible and fair to ordinary citizens.

For PhilJA, Marquez proposed reviewing the academy’s structure, expanding online and on-demand courses, and opening leadership positions to qualified academic experts rather than limiting them to retired justices and judges.

He also proposed establishing training centers in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao; creating a merit-based system for selecting personnel for overseas training; and amending the academy’s charter to allow it to confer degrees and certificates in judicial leadership, law and public administration.

He said the JBC, which screens and recommends appointments to the judiciary, should have adequate staffing, facilities and information technology infrastructure to fulfill its constitutional mandate independently.

He also proposed closer coordination between the JBC and PhilJA to align training programs for judicial aspirants with the requirements for judicial appointments and promotions.

Marquez, who has served the Supreme Court for more than three decades and was court administrator for nearly 12 years, said his experience had given him an understanding of the judiciary’s operations at both the Supreme Court and lower-court levels.

However, he said his long service should not, by itself, be considered a qualification for the chief justice post.

“Length of service is not by itself a qualification,” Marquez said. “What matters to my mind is what these long years have taught me and what I have done with them.”

He said he would preserve reforms that had proved effective under Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo while improving areas that remained deficient.

The Supreme Court is preparing for the selection of Gesmundo’s successor, with Marquez’s proposed reform agenda outlining his vision for the judiciary from 2028 to 2032.