FIRST SAY:
“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.”
― Richard Dawkins
—O0O—
In this age of social media and Facebook or X posts, it is seldom that a civic-minded citizen writes
a letter to his President, congressman or chief justice to point out incidents of corruption or praise good things or developments in their departments.
One such man is my long-time friend, Hobart Dator Jr., of Lucban, Quezon. Whenever we meet—which is seldom—we always talk about the late Fernando Poe Jr., whose movies I wrote as his scriptwriter.
Dator, who comes from a political family in Quezon province, recently wrote Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo to express his support to the CJ’s move creating an online channel for reporting corrupt judges, lawyers and court personnel in the country.
This piece of information came from another friend, Lucena newsman John Bello, who is a common friend of ours.
In his letter to the chief magistrate dated July 29, Hobart Dator, Jr., head of the Judicial Reforms Integrated Stakeholders (JURIS) – Quezon, said that such initiative “would pave the way for the public to be more proactive and alert in reporting any shenanigans in our judicial system and hopefully the crooks in the judiciary would be deterred in their misdeeds and consequently led to the improvement in the administration of justice in our country.”
Dator Jr., president of various local nongovernment organizations such as Save Mt. Banahaw Movement, Save Quezon Province Movement, Juris-Quezon, and other community advocacies across the years, expressed elation that through the online channel, integrity@judiciary.gov.ph,, the public could submit confidential complaints directly to the Chief Justice and the Senior Associate Justices.
The whistleblowers will be given the proper protection by the High Court, Gesmundo assures.
The online channel, Dator Jr. said quoting the SC statement, would pave the way for the reporting of any information regarding extortion of money, gift or favor from any litigant or counsel of any party in exchange for any result in judicial cases; extortion of money, gift or favor from any litigant or counsel for the service of any process including warrants, summons, writs of execution; extortion of money, gift or favor to gain inside information on the progress of any case; and the names and activities of any influence peddler who claims influence in any court.
Any information or complaint regarding judicial misconduct or transgressions sent to the online channel will be accessible to the Ethics Committee of the SC chaired by Chief Justice Gesmundo with Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen as vice chairperson.
The head of JURIS – Quezon said his group proposes the establishment of a Judicial Integrity Board (JIB) for Calabarzon region (Region 4-A) to be located in Lucena City.
The JIB was created by Gesmundo’s predecessor, former CJ Lucas Bersamin - now Executive Secretary at the Office of the President – and is mandated to act on complaints against erring justices, judges and court personnel.
“JURIS-Quezon firmly expresses the view that in the pursuit of a nationwide judicial reforms program under the administration of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. for Bagong Pilipinas, an honest to goodness and sustained reform efforts be pursued in the judicial system of our country for the benefit of the Filipino people today and in the years to come,” said the brief letter to Gesmundo, a copy of which was also furnished Bersamin.
It can be recalled that Dator Jr. has formed in the past a core group called Judicial Reform Integrated Stakeholders (JURIS) - Quezon during the previous administration of President Rodrigo Duterte which advocated judicial reforms in the country owing to the pervasive corruption in the judiciary, and proposed the periodic transfer of assignment of judges and fiscals in the whole country.
Dator Jr. as JURIS-Quezon prime mover has expressed support to then SC Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin in his anti-corruption drive in the country’s judiciary particularly the creation of 2 SC bodies: the Judicial Integrity Board which would act on complaint against erring justices, judges and court personnel and Corruption Prevention and Investigation Office which is tasked to investigate, gather intelligence, subject to surveillance, entrap or conduct a lifestyle check on judicial officials and court employees.
He had expressed Bersamin’s advocacy against corruption at the level of Regional Trial Court judges and provincial prosecutors in Quezon province and wanted a speedy resolution of the province’ jailed inmates cases which had been languishing for years in the local judicial system.
Way back in 2015, Dator pushed for a periodic transfer of assignment for judges and prosecutors nationwide to reform the judiciary.
As a crusading journalist based in Lucena City, it is small wonder that John Bello has Hobart Dator Jr. as one of his treasured friends.
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