Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin has ordered a crackdown against “hoodlums in robes” and court personnel to rid the judiciary of “perception” of corruption.
In his directive to the Office of the Court Administrator, Bersamin stressed that he has ordered a “purge” against “misfits and scalawags” in the judiciary nationwide, starting with his hometown, Abra.
“I directed (Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez) to start with my home province of Abra. That is a marching order… no matter if they are my relatives or not,” Bersamin said.
Bersamin belongs to a political family in Abra. H
is brother was former governor Eustaquio Bersamin and another brother was slain representative Luis Bersamin Jr, who was killed during the wedding of his daughter in Quezon City. The chief justice said he wanted to destroy the perception that justice is only for the strong, the influential and the wealthy, vowing to “enforce the rules of discipline.”
 “Those judges and employees in the provinces who have contributed to this wrong perception about the judiciary will have to go,” Bersamin said.
He said that as the third branch of government, they must be untiring in serving justice and protecting the rights of every Filipino, upholding and applying the law equally whether rich or poor.
The chief justice said personal interests must be set aside and the interest of the public be prioritised by being fair to everyone in quoting the law and using sound judicial discretion.
He stressed that this was the very reason he has set the anti-corruption campaign as one of his priorities in his one-year tenure in the top judicial post.
Bersamin has vowed to “institutionalise changes that are designed to expedite the administration of justice,” including introducing revisions in the Rules of Court, reforms in the legal education, and innovations to the Bar examinations in the country.
He said there was a need “to update our procedural rules to make them embody and be attuned to the technological developments” toward making the judicial system “responsive to the public need for quick dispensation of justice.”
In the Bar exams reforms, Bersamin said he would ask law deans in the country the possibility of adopting the United States system on the “Pass/Fail” approach and law schools to “adopt the best practices abroad on the legal clinic to improve the quality of legal education and ensure access to justice.”