The Supreme Court (SC) has decided to expedite the setting up of the Office of Regional Court Manager (ORCM) in every judicial region to relieve judges of administrative work so they could concentrate on handing down “real time” decisions on cases.
After the launching of the first ORCM in Davao City for the 11th judicial region last June 26, Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo said the ORCM for the third judicial region in Angeles City in Pampanga will be set up next month.
It is expected that other ORCMs will be launched within this year in San Fernando City in La Union, Butuan City, Cebu City, and Ormoc City.
Thereafter, all judicial regions in the country will have their own ORCM, Chief Justice Gesmundo said.
Earlier, the SC said the ORCM will decentralize and improve the delivery of administrative services to about 2,720 first and second level courts – from municipal to regional trial courts.
The SC exercises administrative supervision over all lower courts through the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) headed by Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva.
Under the setup, the SC said “all court branches are reliant on their executive judges, and ultimately on the central office of the OCA for official action.”
The SC said the modernization of OCA is under the five-year Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations (SPJI) to improve the delivery of administrative services to trial courts.
It said that through the ORCM, “the OCA will devolve some of its key functions to the regional court managers, who will be directly communicating with the court branches within the region, and vice-versa.”
It also said the ORCM “will be given the authority to sign off on administrative and fiscal matters and to deliver multiple services directly to the courts.”
Thus, it said that OCA can “devote more of its time and resources to ensuring that the ORCMs are attending to their functions and that courts are primarily focused on their adjudication performance.”
Chief Justice Gesmundo had said the new setup “aims to optimize and harmonize the administrative processes involved, and consequently, ease the administrative workload of the executive judges to ensure the high performance not only of the courts but of all the other offices involved.”
He said: “Through the ORCM, the Judiciary will accelerate and promote the use of technology in the judicial regions, and advocate and champion the awareness, understanding, and implementation of the SC’s reform programs under the SPJI.”
During the launch of the ORCM in Davao City, Chief Justice Gesmundo said “the ORCM will be the efficient judicial machinery that will support our judges in their main function of adjudication.”
He said the decentralization of administrative matters from the OCA to the ORCMs “will promote efficiency, thereby improving the performance of courts and the delivery of justice.”
SC Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, who was also present during the launching, exhorted the officials and staff of the ORCM in the 11th judicial region to prepare for the changes and to “keep retooling yourselves to be more agile, more innovative, more service-oriented.”
Leonen said the Davao City ORCM will serve as model for the other judicial regions.
Court Administrator Villanueva, on the other hand, expressed his gratitude to the SC for supporting OCA in the implementation of the ORCMs.
The first ORCM in Davao City is headed by interim manager, Atty. Kyrie Dea Maia G. Morente of the office of Deputy Court Administrator Leo T. Madrazo.
During the launch, Court Administrator Villanueva turned over to Atty. Morente a copy of the ORCM Operations Manual symbolizing the devolution of key functions from the OCA to the ORCM.
Aside from Davao City, the 11th judicial region includes Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao Occidental, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Surigao del Sur, General Santos City, Saranggani Province, Tagum City, Digos City, Mati City, Panabo City, Island Garden City of Samal, Bislig City, Tandag City, and Koronadal City.