The Judicial Strengthening to Improve Court Effectiveness (JUSTICE) Project is a five-year, $20 million project started in October 2012 focusing on strengthening the rule of law and streamlining the local judicial process. JUSTICE supports reforming court procedures to improve judicial efficiency, decongest court dockets and reduce court delay. This project aims to remove improper filing practices, instate case timelines and strengthen contract enforceability in order to achieve judicial accountability and efficiency.

JUSTICE is a USAID/Philippines project under the Partnership for Growth (PFG), a bilateral initiative. The PFG represents a partnership between the Philippines and the United States to promote broad-based and inclusive growth. The U.S. Government is working with the Government of the Philippines, the private sector and civil society organization to help put the Philippines on an accelerated growth trajectory that benefits the majority of its population.

The project aligns with the goal and PFG intervention themes of good governance anchored on rule of law and regulatory quality. Reformed judicial processes will reduce business costs and facilitate efficient and reliable adjudication, helping the Philippines further develop.

ACTIVITIES

The project carefully introduced three interventions all intended to enhance court efficiency: 1) installation of e-Court system, a computerized case tracking and management tool; 2) massive case decongestion effort that systematically identifies long-standing cases for resolution; and 3) streamlining of trial rules to reduce opportunities for delay. This three-pronged strategy is fully implemented in Quezon City, the largest and most congested court district in the country.

RESULTS

Three years from its launch, JUSTICE is producing notable results in Quezon City. Initial assessments show that the median case processing times of trials across all types of courts were reduced by 60 percent to 78 percent. In the area of docket decongestion, over 31,000 cases were inventoried and 30 percent of these were were disposed by June 2015. The project is now in the process of rolling out these interventions in eight additional growth hubs of the country.

GOAL

To strengthen rule of law and streamline the local judicial process.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Reduce docket congestion and court delays
• Strengthen contractual enforcement
• Strengthen enforcement of intellectual property rights
• Support integrity and confidence-building measures for the justice system