FIRST DRAFT: REVISED RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

The Supreme Court constituted the Core Committee for the National Conference for the Revision of the Rules of Civil Procedure. The move to revise the present Rules is aimed at improving our judicial process by making it more cost and time efficient both for the Courts and the litigants, and hopefully do away with procedural glitches which unduly lengthen the prompt disposition of cases.

As stated in the website of the SC, the overall controlling objective of the Core Committee is to draft and propose a revised Rules of Civil Procedure that gives true justice in all kinds of civil actions before the courts. And justice is done only if the revised rules substantially ensure the following:

1.       The parties in every case are placed on equal footing;

2.       The costs of litigation are reduced;

3.       The courts’ time and resources are wisely distributed among cases in proportion to

a.       the amounts involved;

b.      the complexity of the issues raised; and

c.       and the public interests in their resolution;

4.       All cases are speedily heard and decided; and

5.       The impartiality of the courts is enhanced and safeguarded.

The Core Committee has published the First Draft of the Revised Rules of Civil Procedure for public comment. Once approved by the Supreme Court En Banc, the new rules will be called the Philippine Code of Procedure.

Download the First Draft Here!

CONSPIRACY APPLIES TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN

Violation of RA 9262 can be committed by persons other than one who is related to the woman by marriage, former marriage, or with whom the woman has or had sexual or dating relationship. This is possible through conspiracy under the Revised Penal Code.

This was underscored in GO-TAN vs. SPS. TAN, G.R. No. 168852, September 30, 2008 where it was held that “while the said provision provides that the offender be related or connected to the victim by marriage, former marriage, or a sexual or dating relationship, it does not preclude the application of the principle of conspiracy under the RPC. “ It was further noted that Section 47 of R.A. No. 9262 even expressly provides for the suppletory application of the Revised Penal Code. Thus, the Court concludes that the principle of conspiracy under Article 8 of the RPC can be, without a doubt, applied suppletorily to R.A. No. 9262 precisely because of the express provision of Section 47 that the RPC shall be supplementary to said law. 

         

Read the full text of the decision here: 

GO-TAN vs. SPS. TAN,G.R. No. 168852, September 30, 2008          

RIGHT TO VOTE

"The right to vote has reference to a constitutional guarantee of the utmost significance. It is a right without which the principle of sovereignty residing in the people becomes nugatory. In the traditional terminology, it is a political right enabling every citizen to participate in the process of government to assure that it derives its power from the consent of the governed. What was so eloquently expressed by Justice Laurel comes to mind: 'As long as popular government is an end to be achieved and safeguarded, suffrage, whatever may be the modality and form devised, must continue to be the means by which the great reservoir of power must be emptied into the receptacular agencies wrought by the people through their Constitution in the interest of good government and the common weal. Republicanism, in so far as it implies the adoption of a representative type of government, necessarily points to the enfranchised citizen as a particle of popular sovereignty and as the ultimate source of the established authority."' (PUÑGUTAN v. ABUBAKAR, G.R. No. L-33541, January 20, 1972)

ON MOTHER'S LOVE

"Generally, the love, solicitude and devotion of a mother cannot be replaced by another and are worth more to a child of tender years than all other things combined." (Sy v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 124518, December 27, 2007)

LABOR DAY

"Social justice is not a mere catchphrase to be mouthed with sham fervor in Labor Day celebrations for the delectation and seduction of the working class. It is a mandate we should pursue with energy and sincerity if we are to truly insure the dignity and well-being of the laborer."

- Dissenting Opinion of Justice Cruz, Republic v.Peralta, G.R.No. L-56568, May 20, 1987.