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PIDS pushes stronger whole‑of‑system approach and guaranteed funding for justice reforms
PIDS pushes stronger whole‑of‑system approach and guaranteed funding for justice reforms
State-run policy think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) is backing Senate Bill (SB) No. 1547, which seeks to create a joint congressional commission on justice system reform, while urging lawmakers to strengthen several provisions to ensure the measure delivers meaningful and systemwide improvements.
PIDS noted that the explanatory note of the bill correctly identifies failures in public accountability and high‑level corruption as core problems and commended the proposal’s coverage of all five pillars of justice—law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, corrections, and community.
To reinforce this whole‑of‑system perspective, PIDS recommended changes to Section 5 of the bill. On item (a), Navarro wrote that “the recognition of multiple structures, methodologies, procedures and technological infrastructure is important because a whole-of-justice-system approach should look into the five pillars of the justice system.”
For item (b), she urged lawmakers to ensure the bill identifies bottlenecks across all pillars, not just in courts. Navarro cited that “courts indeed face ‘high volume of pending cases and severe delays in case disposition’ and unresolved cases in lower courts reached nearly 900,000 before 2017,” but noted that problems also arise from “weak case management and digitalization gaps and siloed operations or lack of formal systems for inter-pillar coordination.”
On item (c), PIDS emphasized the need to assess rules across judicial and quasi‑judicial bodies. Navarro said: “This is again to emphasize a whole-of-justice-system approach rather than focus on the judiciary only. Note that a case can fail if any of the five pillars underperforms.” She cited common failures such as “weak police investigation (enforcement pillar), dismissive prosecutor (prosecution pillar), growing court backlogs (judiciary pillar), overcrowded jails (corrections pillar), and rise in community distrust (community pillar).”
PIDS likewise proposed revising item (d) to explicitly address geographic inequities in access to justice. Navarro said, “Covering geographic inequities is important because equity gaps persist not only across the population but also across geographic areas.” She noted that this would help address issues in regions such as Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and support efforts to harmonize Sharia law with Philippine laws.
The think tank also backed the designation of PIDS as the commission’s research arm but warned that this mandate would be ineffective without assured funding. Navarro said the designation “serves as a policy credibility signal” but cautioned that “even if PIDS is given an additional research mandate per law, funding for research is not guaranteed.” She cited the PIDS’ experience under the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), where the absence of legal mechanisms for inter‑branch fund transfers and tight budget ceilings initially hindered research work.
To address this, PIDS recommended creating a commission technical secretariat headed by an executive director with defined qualifications, enabling immediate hiring of consultants and research support. Navarro also proposed revising Section 8 to ensure the mandate is properly funded, suggesting language stating: “This additional function of PIDS shall be considered in mandating, through the General Appropriations Act (GAA), the direct transfer of research funds to and extending the budget ceiling of the institute.”