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THE NECESSITY OF COLLECTIVE ACTION*

By
Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno
Supreme Court

In 1997, Republic Act No. 8369 was enacted establishing the Family Courts.

Anchored on the national policies of protecting the rights and promoting the

welfare of children, and of recognizing the sanctity of family life, such law is

based on lofty and significant ideals. Its implementation, without a doubt, is vital

as family courts are needed to properly adjudicate cases of youthful offenders and

domestic violence, and amicably settle family controversies.

Essentially, family courts were created to provide a venue for the handling

of cases involving the welfare of women and children, and the preservation of the

family of which they belong to. Such objective clearly puts emphasis on the plight

of these two disadvantaged groups, whose lives and rights are inextricably linked.

Corrolarily, their disadvantaged positions root from the violence, inequality and

discrimination that they experience in every facet of society, most particularly in

the family, workplace, school, and in the community.

In the Philippines, statistics on violence against women (VAW) have

become truly alarming. In 2008, the number of VAW cases reported to the police

rose by 21 percent from the 2007 report. The increase caused the trend to go

upward after a six-year downward trend from 2001 to 2006. For the past few years

*
Delivered at the National Summit on Family Courts: Strengthening the Multi-Sectoral Framework for the
Protection of Family, Women, and Children held at the Manila Hotel, Manila on March 12, 2010.
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since 1999, the trend peaked at a record high of 9,132 VAW cases in 2001. From

1999 to 2008, a very high total of 67,436 VAW cases have been reported. Based

on these findings, physical injuries or wife battering remains to be the most

prevalent case across the country, accounting for about half of all reported VAW

cases nationwide. Among the other cases reported are rape, acts of lasciviousness,

sexual harassment, threats, seduction, concubinage, sex trafficking, abduction, and

unjust vexation. Sadly, the abovementioned statistics continue to escalate as of the

beginning of this year.

On the other hand, cases of child abuse and labor, instances of abandonment

and neglect by parents, and the number of youthful offenders have also escalated in

our country. In connection with this, there are about 1.5 million street children in

the Philippines, 60,000 of whom are exploited in prostitution. The Department of

Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has reported that the annual average

increase in prostituted children is 3,266, and that there has been more than a 100%

increase annually in sexually abused and exploited children.

Such phenomenon follows the global trend where we see seemingly

insurmountable challenges to children’s rights, such as the rising number of

violations of their human rights. These violations, done with impunity, come in

odious and unspeakable forms—torture, extrajudicial executions by “death

squads,” enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence and

exploitation, trafficking and kidnapping, abandonment and neglect. Our children,

alas, continue to be physically maltreated, economically exploited, and spiritually

degraded.
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Such circumstances do not lie, nor are they exaggerated. These facts and

figures paint a bleak picture for our women and children, with such picture

highlighting the urgency and necessity of collective action on our part so that their

rights will finally be completely protected and guaranteed.

In this vein, I am proud to say we have not been remiss in our duties of

safeguarding the wellbeing of our women and children. Since 1995, there have

been six laws on violence against women passed by the legislature in the

Philippines, namely Republic Act No. 7877 or The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of

1995, Republic Act No. 8353 or The New Anti-Rape Act of 1997, Republic Act

No. 8505 or The Rape Victims Assistance Act, Republic Act No. 6955 or An Act

Declaring Unlawful the Matching of Filipino Mail Order Brides to Foreigners,

Republic Act No. 9208 or The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, Republic

Act No. 9262 or The Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of

2004, and Republic Act No. 7610 or the Child Protection Act. These laws have

been meticulously applied by our judges in their respective salas.

On the other hand, the doctrine of “Best Interest of the Child,” even before

the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been passed, has always been the

Judiciary’s linchpin in its reform initiatives for children. To complement relevant

Philippine legislation on children such as Republic Act No. 9344 or the Juvenile

Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, Presidential Decree No. 603 or the Child and

Youth Welfare Code, the Family Code of 1988, and Republic Act No. 7610 or the

Anti-Child-Abuse Act, the Supreme Court has undertaken initiatives to strengthen

the child justice system in our country. Let me describe to you some of them.
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Insofar as procedural rules before the courts are concerned, the Supreme

Court has assumed an activist role by promulgating child-sensitive Rules of

Procedure such as The Rule on the Examination of a Child Witness, the Rule that

allows the use of “live-link” television testimony of child witnesses; The Revised

Rule on Juveniles in Conflict with the Law, the Rule that specifically enumerates

all the rights of children in conflict with the law; The Rule on Voluntary and

Involuntary Commitment of Children; The Rule on Adoption; The Rule on Custody

and Habeas Corpus; The Rule on Anti-Violence Against Women and Their

Children, which has provided the remedy of protection orders; Provisional Orders

in Cases of Nullity or Annulment of Marriage and Legal Separation; and The Rule

on Children Charged under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law.

The Supreme Court, through various circulars and orders, has also ordered

the use of child sensitive terminology in court proceedings, pioneered the use of

child-sensitive measures in and out of the courtroom; ordered strict confidentiality

of proceedings and case records, and adopted the process of sealing court records

upon termination of a case, unless otherwise ordered opened by the court; and

mandated the issuance by the courts of protection orders for children who are

primary or secondary victims of family violence and hold departure orders for

children subject of custody cases.

Moreover, as a result of the extensive deliberations at the National Summit

on Extra-legal Killings and Enforced Disappearances convened by the Supreme

Court in July last 2007, the Court approved the Rule on the Writ of Amparo. This

writ provides legal remedies for families of victims of extralegal killings and

enforced disappearances, such as temporary protection orders, inspection and

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production orders and witness protection orders. Insofar as children are concerned,

the Writ of Amparo may be resorted to as a judicial device for families and

organizations searching for missing children -- hijos desaparecidos -- who are

suspected of being victims of police or military brutality, summary executions,

kidnapping and armed conflicts.

Indeed, such laws and rules have proven to be very useful in satisfying the

needs of our women and children for fast and fair justice. However, their obvious

potential is hindered by the current state of our family courts, which are the venues

where these laws and rules are ultimately applied. More than a decade since the

promulgation of the law creating them and in spite of the necessity of the law’s

realization, it is unfortunate that family courts are still to be fully regularized and

the law yet to be fully implemented. Further, our people are not aware of the

remedies and reliefs they can utilize and pray for before the designated family

courts. This dilemma is due to a variety of reasons—lack of knowledge in

procedure, scarcity of personnel who will specialize in Family Courts, insufficient

number of judges to handle family cases, failure to prosecute, insensitivity of

judges to women and children victims, and delay in the dispensation of justice.

Additionally, women and children suffer disproportionately from the high cost of

reporting violations of their rights to law enforcers, filing and initiating the

litigation process, and engaging legal services. Limited training and understanding

of international human rights norms and instruments as applied to women and

children also deter the pillars of the justice system from correctly applying the

principles in the discharge of their duties.

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It is amidst this backdrop of prevalent injustices against women and children

that I recommended to the directors of the Philippine Judges Association the

conduct of a multi-sectoral dialogue, which will gather the various sectors

comprising and assisting the Philippine Judiciary, to further identify our main

problems, explore possible solutions, and develop a workable consensus on how to

improve access to justice in the family courts. To accomplish this with dispatch,

three regional conferences were previously held in the National Capital Judicial

Region, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. And today, the outputs of the stakeholders

present at these conferences will be offered and integrated so that we can finally

ascertain the scope and scale of our problem with a new eye. We have also invited

representatives of the different sectors of our society involved with women and

children to join today’s workshop groups so that we will be given a more

authoritative profile of the problems they encounter in our justice system.

Hopefully, at the end of this day, we will be able to achieve a more comprehensive

understanding of the problems in our family courts, and churn out solutions that

are sensible and doable.

In closing, let me leave you with a quote by prominent American

businessman Ben Cohen, “If you’re aware of injustice, you can either ignore it, say

there is nothing you can do about it, complain about it and not do anything, or put

your energies into doing something about it.” Considering that family courts are

integral and vital components of a strong and operable justice system, their

disorganization is an injustice to women, children, and families everywhere.

Together, let us combat this injustice and do something about it today.

Good luck to us all, and thank you.