The Supreme Court (SC), led by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, welcomed the enactment of the law that will provide security, safety, and protection to members, officials, personnel, and property of all courts in the country.
The law, under Republic Act No. 11691, the Judiciary Marshals Act, will also provide security and protection to the integrity of proceedings in all courts.
In a press statement, the SC’s public information office (PIO) said:
“Chief Justice Gesmundo said that RA 11691 will be a great help not only to the Supreme Court but to the entire Judiciary as well in ensuring an efficient and effective delivery of justice.
“Indeed, the creation of RA 11691 will not only secure, protect, and safeguard the Judiciary but will also boost the morale of its members, officials, and personnel at this time when there is the concern of the threats to judges and killings of lawyers.
“As the Supreme Court En Banc expressed in a statement on March 23, 2021, ‘the Judiciary is one of the three pillars of our republican democracy, which itself hangs on a careful balance between and among governmental powers.
“’To threaten our judges and our lawyers is no less than an assault on the Judiciary. To assault the Judiciary is to shake the very bedrock
on which the rule of law stands.”
Chief Justice Gesmundo had met with officials of the United States government for assistance in the setting up of the Philippines’ Judiciary Marshals and a Judiciary Marshals Academy.
The Judiciary Marshals Act declared: "It is the declared policy of the state to ensure the safety and security of the members of the judiciary, judicial personnel, and court assets, in order for the judiciary to function independently and impartially in upholding the rule of law and in preserving the rights and guarantees granted by the Constitution.”
As envisioned in the law, the Office of the Judiciary Marshals (OJM) will be under the control and supervision of the SC through the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA).
The law provided an initial budget of P50 million for its implementation.
In its position paper, the SC – through then Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez, now an associate justice of the SC – said the OJM “will not only help deter the killings and attacks against the members of the Judiciary but will likewise expedite and facilitate the investigation on these cases, in coordination with the concerned law enforcement agencies.”
“This will instill confidence in our justices and judges in the administration of justice and the discharge of their duties, without constant fear for their safety and security,” Marquez said.
Also, Marquez said, the creation of OJM “will relieve the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) from prioritizing the security, safety, and protection of the judges and justices, and investigating threats and violence against them, because the same will now be primarily lodged with the Judicial Marshals.”
He also said:
“Constitutional safeguards have been provided to ensure the independence of the courts. But these constitutional safeguards will be useless if our judges will continue to cower in fear.
“Thus, in order to protect this judicial independence, justices and judges must be able to make courageous, even unpopular decisions knowing that they will not be threatened, hurt, or killed for dispensing justice.”