By Myris Lee
President Rodrigo Duterte has signed Republic Act No. 11691 or the Judiciary Marshals Act to ensure the security of members and personnel of the Judiciary.
Signed early April this year, the law establishes the Office of the Judiciary Marshals (OJM) under the control and supervision of the Supreme Court through the Office of the Court Administrator.
The creation of OJM aims to preserve the independence of the Judiciary by ensuring the security and safety of magistrates and court personnel, including the integrity of the courts and its proceedings. The office has an allocated budget of P50 million.
The new law stressed that ensuring the safety and security of the judiciary, judicial personnel, and court assets will help the “judiciary to function independently and impartially in upholding the rule of law and in preserving the rights and guarantees granted by the Constitution.”
The Supreme Court shared through a social media post that 35 judges have been killed and only a few were given justice since 1999.
In a separate statement, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo welcomed the signing into law of the new act, saying that it “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,” he said.
“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,‟ he added.-Ag
