Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo has urged the members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Commission on Bar Discipline (IBP-CBD) to resolve expeditiously administrative complaints filed against lawyers.
Speaking during the second day of the “First CBD Commissioners’ Summit” at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, Gesmundo lamented that the “statistics provided by the IBP-CBD show how administrative cases have suffered perennial delays in disposition, with 902 cases still pending as of July 30, 2022.”
The IBP is the official organization of lawyers in the country. Among other tasks, its CBD investigates complaints filed against its member. It then submits its recommendation to the SC which will either adopt the recommendation or hand down its own ruling.
Gesmundo said the expeditious resolution of disciplinary cases will be in line with the Supreme Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI), which is ultimately aimed at the delivery of justice in real time.
He said the SC and the IBP will soon conduct a nationwide caravan on the new Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability.
The caravan will introduce the new Code not only to the different Chapters of the IBP, but also to the other stakeholders who rely on the administration of justice, “so they could call the attention of the members of the Bar if they digress, violate, or totally ignore what is provided in the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability,” he also said.
Chief Justice Gesmundo was joined in the event by Associate Justices Ramon Paul L. Hernando, Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, Rodil V. Zalameda, Samuel H. Gaerlan, Jhosep Y. Lopez, Jose Midas P. Marquez, and Maria Filomena D. Singh.
The SC’s public information office (PIO) said that about 100 IBP investigating commissioners are taking part in the three-day summit under the theme “Standardizing Concepts and Processes in Improving the System of Resolving Administrative Complaints Filed with the Commission on Bar Discipline.”