SC CIRCULAR NO. 13, July 01, 1987

The installation of the new government of President Corazon C.
Aquino and Vice-President Salvador H. Laurel following the presidential
snap elections raised the hopes and dreams of the Filipino people of
finally securing for themselves and their posterity the blessings of
true independence and democracy under the rule of law and regime of
truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace, as declared in the
preamble of the 1937 Constitution. The reorganization of the new
judiciary was completed last January 30, 1987, after a careful screening
of all those who were extended new appointments.

With the ratification of the 1987 Constitution and the
restoration of Congress following the last May 11, 1937 congressional
elections, all the structures for a strong and democratic Republic with
separation of powers and checks and balances have been put in place.
Your security of tenure and the independence of the judiciary are now
ensured. In turn, our primary and fundamental task is to restore the
full confidence of our people in the courts. To succeed in this
endeavor, the complete and dedicated support of all of us in the
judiciary is needed.

The reorganized judiciary is tasked with the tremendous
responsibility of assisting parties litigants in obtaining just, speedy
and inexpensive determination of their cases and proceedings as directed
in Rule 1, Sec. 2 of the Rules of Court. Delay is a recurring
complaint of every litigants. The main objective of every judge,
particularly of trial judges, should be to avoid delays, or if it cannot be
totally avoided, to hold them to the minimum and to repudiate manifestly
dilatory tactics.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

For all members of the judiciary, the following guidelines are hereby issued:

1. All members of the judiciary must always to live up to the
   criterion prescribed in Article VIII, Section 7(3), of the Constitution
   that “a Member of the Judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.”

2. Judges should keep abreast of the rulings and doctrines laid down
   by the Supreme Court and apply them to appropriate cases regardless of
   their personal opinion.

3. Judges shall observe scrupulously the periods prescribed by
   Article VIII, Section l6, of the Constitution for the adjudication and
   resolution of all cases or matters submitted in their courts. Thus, all cases or
   matters must be decided or resolved within twelve months from date of submission by all lower collegiate courts while all other lower courts are given a period
   of three months to do so.

4. All decisions should express clearly and distinctly the facts and the laws
   on which they are based. No petition or review or motion for
   reconsideration of a decision of the court shall be refused due course
   or denied without stating the legal basis therefor. (Article VIII,
   Section 14, 1987 Constitution)

5. All courts are enjoined to exercise extra care and circumspection
   in the issuance of temporary restraining orders and preliminary
   injunctions or improvident or arbitrary orders or resolutions that are
   manifestly marked by grave abuse of discretion. They must take note that
   the effective period of temporary restraining orders is limited to 20
   days and subject to the requirements provided in BP No. 224 and the
   Interim Rules.

GUIDELINES FOR TRIAL COURTS

The following guidelines are hereby issued for all trial courts:

1. Punctuality and strict observance of office hours.- Punctuality in the holding of scheduled hearings is an imperative. Trial judges should strictly observe the requirement of at least eight hours of service a day,
   five hours of which should be devoted to trial, specifically from 8:30
   a.m. to 12:00 noon and from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. as required by par. 5 of
   the Interim Rules issued by the Supreme Court on January 11, 1933, pursuant to Sec. 1+ of BP 129.

2. Maximize use of pre-trial and discovery procedures. –
   Pre-trials are not intended merely to determine whether the parties can
   arrive at compromises. Exhaustive pre-trials should be conducted to
   reduce areas of conflict and simplify issues, secure stipulations or
   admissions of facts, limit the number, of witnesses, consider the
   advisibility of preliminary reference of issues to a commissioner and
   other matters as may aid in the prompt disposition of the action. (Rule
   20, Section 1 of the Rules of Court)

Judges should exert more effort to resolve the remaining issues by judgment on the pleadings or summary judgments specially in simple
collection cases where the pleadings manifestly raise no genuine issues
or only sham issues, as enjoined by Rule 20, Section 3 in relation to
Rule 19 and Rule 34 of the Rules of Court.

3. Availment of discovery procedures. – Lawyers and parties should be
   encouraged to avail of discovery procedures provided for in Rule 24 to
   Rule 29 of the Rule of Court. This is a neglected area in our
   adversarial process. Its use would greatly expedite the trial of cases.

4. Active management of trials, minimum postponements. –

(a) Judges should actively manage trial of their cases of
rational calendaring of cases, avoid unnecessary postponements of cases,
plan the course and direction of trials so that waste of tine is avoided. Judges should closely supervise court personnel so that adequate
precautions are taken in sending out subpoenas, summons and court processes
to ensure that they are timely served and received.

(b) A rational policy on postponements should be observed by the
judge so that the courts are not at the mercy of the lawyers and the
parties without at the the same time imposing abusive, unnecessary and
oppressive denial of meritorious motions for postponements, Court
should strictly enforce the provisions of Sections 3, 4, and 5 of Rule 22
on the matter of adjournment and postponements, judges should note that,
under Rule 22, Section 3, the court has no authority to adjourn a trial
for a longer period than one month for each adjournment, nor more than
three months in all, unless authorized in writing by the Chief Justice.

(c) Trial of cases should be conducted punctually, expeditiously and efficiently for the speedy disposition of cases.

In criminal cases, judges should strictly observe the
provisions of Rule 119, Section 2 for a continuous day to day trial as
practicable until terminated.

(d) There should be a rational and realistic calendar management so that only a sufficient number of cases are calendared that will permit the judge to hear all the cases as scheduled.

5. Annual Conferences on pending cases. – Judges should
   avail of annual conferences mandated by the Rules of Court (Rule 22,
   Section 6) to determine the causes of delay. The conference should be
   held at the end of one year from the day the trial proper has commenced
   and every year thereafter. At the conference, ways and means should be
   devised for the proper termination of the trial.

As required under Rule 22, Section 6, a statement of the result of the conference should be attached to the record.

6. Inventory of Cases. – There should be a continuous and a
   physical inventory of cases on a monthly basis so that the trial judge
   is aware of the status of each case. With the assistance of the branch
   clerk of court, a checklist should be prepared indicating the steps to
   be taken to keep cases moving.

7. Preparation of concise and brief decisions. – While
   decision writing is a matter of personal style, judges should endeavor
   to prepare brief decisions, orders or resolutions. Every judge should
   have on his desk a table or calendar indicating the cases submitted for
   decision.

8. Visitations by Supreme Court personnel. – In order to
   assist trial judges and so that appropriate audits can be affected, the
   Supreme Court through the Office of the Court Administrator shall from
   time to time be sending out teams of staff attorneys and personnel of
   the Office of the Court Administrator to conduct visitations of the different courts. This shall be done periodically and without previous
   notice. Such teams shall so conduct themselves so as not to interfere
   with the work of the trial judges but shall observe proceedings, conduct
   dialogues, make audits of case dispositions and report to the Supreme
   Court their observations and recommendations. Your utmost cooperation
   with these teams is enjoined.

9. Exemplars in the Community. – Finally, all trial judges
   should, endeavor to conduct themselves strictly accordance with the
   mandate of existing laws and the Code of Judicial Ethics that they be
   exemplars in their communities and the living personification of Justice
   and the Rule of Law.

July 1, 1987.