Valenzuela Court and City Hall Tour
Sabin Rana and Masao Dan (LLM Fellows)
November 26th, 2015
The Tour
November in the Philippines brings lot of
uncertainty when it comes to weather. The
weather would not take long to change from
sunny to gloomy to rainy. However, on
November 26, 2015 the weather god was
merciful and graced us with a clear, sunny,
and warm day. It was a special day selected
for an LLM field trip visiting the Metropolitan
Trial Court and the City Hall of the Valenzuela City after a long exchange of emails
between the Judge Teresita Asuncion M. Lacandula-Rodriguez of the Valenzuela
Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 81 or Judge Teachie as we love to call her. Judge
Teachie is an Ateneo LLM alumna and she was very kind enough to allow us to
observe the legal and administrative practice in her court and to arrange a trip to the
Valenzuela City Hall.
Located in northwestern part of the Metro Manila, the city with population of 616,3381
is known for its progressive governance. The court held by Judge Teachie was very
efficient and effective in tackling the significant number of cases. It was a meaningful
experience, especially for the two of us, foreign practitioners admitted in India and
Japan, to witness the procedure and system in both departments.
The Valenzuela Metropolitan Trial Court
We started the tour by observing the hearings of criminal
cases presided by Judge Teachie. Approximately 30
cases, relatively minor offences such as bodily injuries
or thefts, were scheduled in the morning.
1As
of 2015. http://www.valenzuela.gov.ph/index.php/the_city
The Court proceedings were smooth. It was quite surprising, based on Sabin’s
experience of working at trial court in Delhi, the trial courts are overcrowded by
litigants, lawyers, accused, and observers and very chaotic. One must kill his / her
lungs to be heard in the trial courts in Delhi. Another interesting observation was that
the public prosecutor and the defense attorney both worked harmoniously and
cooperated with each other by sharing their case briefs and without interrupting
opponent’s submission. Both parties presented the case rather simply, without the
gloss of style and manner, and the court asked simple questions from time to time
during the cross examinations while giving short and precise instructions for the next
hearings of each case. The courtroom, initially almost fully occupied by the accused,
guards, and observers, got quieter while the hearings made progress and emptied just
before noon.
Afterwards, Judge Teachie and the participants had
a discussion based on observation and knowledge
and experience of each. It includes mini-seminar on
legal system in the Philippines, a topic of great
interest especially for international students. We
realized that Judge Teachie is managing her court
not only by her good work ethic but by adequately
collaborating with related parties such as both
prosecutor’s and public attorney’s office and court
officers in the branch.
The City Hall
In the afternoon, we were welcomed by a banner
prepared specifically for this tour in the City Hall of
the Valenzuela. The city with rich history is wellknown for its efficient and transparent governance.
According to Judge Teachie, the City Hall has been
very helpful in providing technical assistance to her
court in the areas of IT infrastructure, maintenance
of the court and human resources.
We took a quick glance at the history of the City in the museum located in the City Hall,
which gave us an idea how the city developed through time, from the Spanish colonial
era to the present.
The City’s progressive attitude toward effective services both for its resident people
and businesses was symbolized by the
automated application system for the
permissions. The participants and Judge
Teachie
were shown how an applicant
can acquire a license without waiting in
line. All one needed to do was to just press
the touch screen several times and drop
the related documents using a ready-to-use box.
The municipal government is also enthusiastic in providing administrative services to
its residents, especially for the people in need. It operates a free school with free food
for street children in newly completed Public Square near the City Hall. In the said
Square, the office even offers free Zumba lessons every morning for those interested.
Acknowledgement
We would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to Judge Teachie and her
staff in Branch 81 as well as the friendly people of the Valenzuela City Hall who gave
us a memorable and insightful tour, which helped us understand how the legal and
administrative sectors function at municipality level.
We would also like to thank the Teehankee Center for the Rule of Law which enabled
this project in the first place and gave us the opportunity to share our experience with
the readers.