SC to Create Special Courts on Extrajudicial Killings

Posted: February 15, 2007 By Jay B. Rempillo

Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno today announced that the Supreme Court, within a week’s time, will establish special courts that will be tasked to resolve killings of the members of the media, as well as political killings.

Chief Justice Puno made the statement during an ambush media interview following the courtesy call by delegates from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) led by Prof. Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the UNCHR on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions.

The chief magistrate said he had already directed the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) to submit a complete inventory of all extrajudicial killings which will include, among others, cases with ideological dimensions, and media killings. The inventory will help the High Court in determining the sources of the problems of delay “to pave the way for a fast resolution of these cases.”

“This will be part of our efforts to establish special courts in order to resolve all these special types of cases. This will go high in our priority list,” Chief Justice Puno said.
The numbers of special courts will depend on the density of cases per area. Chief Justice Puno said he wants to “see first the geographical locations of these cases” so that the High Court will create more special courts per area if necessary.

Chief Justice Puno said that Alston and his delegation had expressed the UNCHR’s concern on the rising extrajudicial killings in the country. “I understand the team is in the process of gathering all the information and it’s their intent to help in the solution of this problem,” he said.
When asked about establishing a rewards system to expedite resolution of cases, Chief Justice Puno said the High Court is open to the idea but expressed budgetary concerns. “That needs financial resources and if you look at our budget, the problem will be how to source the finances in order to raise the rewards,” he said.

“The first and foremost of human rights is the right to life. It has long been accorded universal status for the existence of all other rights is premised on the preservation of life. The extrajudicial taking of life is the ultimate violation of human rights. It cannot be allowed anywhere, and it has to be resisted everywhere…Extrajudicial killings also constitute brazen assaults on the rule of law. It is the constitutional duty of our judiciary to protect the rule of law and we will link with all efforts to prevent its erosion,” said Chief Justice Puno.