Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo expressed the Philippine Supreme Court’s (SC) gratitude to the United Kingdom’s government for assistance in court reform activities, particularly on training of judges and court personnel.
United Kingdom’s ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Laure Beaufils and members of her delegation paid a courtesy call to Gesmundo and the SC’s justices last Friday, June 10, the SC’s public information office (PIO) said.
Gesmundo also thanked the British government for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines for the judiciary’s officials and personnel, the PIO said.
It said that Gesmundo recalled that since the year 2000, the British government, through the British embassy in the Philippines, has been “providing the Philippine Judiciary trainings, programs, and other activities that have been of significant help in improving the skills of judges and court personnel.”
The PIO said that Ambassador Beaufils, in her response “conveyed the commitment of the British Government to supporting the Philippine Judiciary where it can, specifically laws on competition and economics, and expressed her hope for more opportunities for the British Government to work more closely with the Supreme Court ‘to build on what we have already delivered together.’”
It said that Chief Justice Gesmundo was joined in the courtesy call by Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, Ramon Paul L. Hernando, Rodil V. Zalameda, Mario V. Lopez, Samuel H. Gaerlan, Ricardo R. Rosario, Japar B. Dimaampao, Jose Midas P. Marquez, Antonio T. Kho, Jr. and Maria Filomena D. Singh.
Also present were Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva, Assistant Court Administrator and PIO Chief Brian Keith F. Hosaka, Deputy Clerk of Court and Judicial Reform Program Administrator Laura C.H. Del Rosario, and Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Technology Officer Jed Sherwin G. Uy.
The visit of Ambassador Beaufils coincided with the SC’s celebration of its 121st founding anniversary, the PIO said.