LIM TELLS JUDGES: IMPROVE DISPENSATION OF JUSTICE

Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim, in his welcome remarks at the national convention and seminar of the Philippine Trial Judges League Inc. (PTJLI) held at the Grand Ballroom of the Century Park Hotel, urged the judges Thursday to”help improve the dispensation of justice in the country.”

With its theme ” Frontlining Judicial Independence and Moral Uprighteousness in the First Level Courts” Lim pointed out that the first level courts are truly the “front run in the quest for moral revolution.”

 “May this convention give you the time to reminisce and re-live once more your idealism and dedication felt immediately upon taking your oath of office,” Lim added.

 Lim (a lawyer) said appointing judges must be “insulated, as much as possible, from politics so that political patronage is avoided and the wrong perception against judges are minimized.”

 A former police officer, Lim spoke of how police officers can plant evidence or frame-up an innocent person just to report a case solved.

Most victims of such incidents belong to the lowest level of the society – the poor. “Kahit na hindi kumain ng tatlong beses sa isang araw basta’t huwag lang kami pagbibintangan sa isang kasalanan na hindi naming ginagawa”, Lim recalled the words of some poor victims of frame-up.

He cited the case of former precinct commander Col. Manolo Martinez who was killed and the suspect was framed up and presented to the media in order to get the bounty of P500,000.

 Later, the real suspect surfaced when he was arrested for killing a labor lawyer and the precinct commander.  And finally, the real suspect was a member of the New People’s Army.

Having shared these examples, he asked the judges to immediately acquit the suspects that police or fiscals bring to them since “this is the true sense of justice. Let them prove their innocence before your sala.”

You hold in your hands, the proper dispensation of cases. Without your cooperation and intrinsic desire to give justice to all, then justice will always be questioned.

“I hope that there will be no more frame ups but if you come across such instance, the first line of defense of an innocent person who is searching and wanting to give them the justice rests with you,” he said.