Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 29) — Court hearings via video conferencing in the country have had an 88% success rate so far, a Supreme Court (SC) official said on Thursday.
SC Administrator Jose Midas Marquez told CNN Philippines that most of online hearings have gone on without a glitch, with 12% being unsuccessful because of connectivity issues.
“We have been constantly monitoring our video conference hearings,” he said. “Since May 4 when we started the video conference hearings, until Oct. 16, we’ve had 110,000 video conferencing hearings nationwide with a success rate of 88%.”
All courts were given platforms for these kinds of hearings, Marquez said.
“Merong mga face-to-face hearings, meron ding mga video conference hearings, all these are based on the discretion of the judge…” he explained. “Kung merong halimbawang nag-file ng motion they will be appearing remotely from their respective houses or offices, at pumapayag naman si judge, ganon ang mangyayari.”
[Translation: There are face-to-face meetings as well as video conference meetings, all these are based on the discretion of the judge. If for example, someone files a motion that they will be appearing remotely from their respective houses or offices and the judge agrees, that’s what will happen.]
Marquez clarified, however, that all judges will have to be in court. In the case of persons deprived of liberty (PDL), they will have to appear from their jail facilities.
He added that the public is allowed to attend these online hearings.
“If the public, or kahit media, would like to, say join a hearing, observe a hearing magpapadala lang kayo ng request three days before the scheduled hearing,” Marquez said. “Bigay ‘nyo yung pangalan ‘nyo, yung inyong email address, tapos padadalhan ng link just before the hearing (and) you will be able to observe.”
[Translation: If the public, or even media would like to, say join a hearing, observe a hearing they can send a request three days before its schedule. Just give your name, your email address, and then you will be sent a link just before the hearing and you will be able to observe.]
Marquez, however, said some parts of the hearings are sensitive and not everyone will have access to it.
He also said that judges are advised to be careful in granting motions for video conferencing meetings especially during the stage where they want to see a witness’ credibility, demeanor, and candor.
“Mahirap yun gawin through online hearings,” the high court administrator said.
[Translation: That would be difficult to do through online hearings.]
Meanwhile, Marquez said the Supreme Court is finalizing guidelines for online appearances of Filipinos abroad.
He said the SC has been pilot testing online hearings since before the pandemic, but some justices had concerns about constitutional issues so they all had to exercise caution.
“Because in a criminal case, lalong-lalo na pag ang involved ay PDLs, may mga constitutional rights ang accused [most especially when PDLs are involved, the accused have constitutional rights] and we have to make sure that all these rights are being observed in an online hearing,” he explained.
Watch the interview here.
