Justice Infrastructure

By Geronimo L. Sy
WITH the word “infrastructure,” we see roads, smell bridges and hear airports. We touch PPP and we taste BBB. Humans are embodied and connected to the physical world in very tangible ways. There is no argument against the necessity and importance of infrastructure to commuters and to country. It is essential to daily living and quality of life.
But there is more than meets the senses. Humans are soul and spirit too. The other infrastructure that we need to invest in is our justice response — the “justice infrastructure.” This is the layer in our community that contains and reflects our moral code — the idea of fairness.
When agreements are breached or when amounts due are unpaid, there is a recourse for those aggrieved. When consumers or citizens are unhappy with the service they are getting, there are remedies. From the simplest pickpocketing of cellphones, to complicated corporate fraud, from date rapes to conspiratorial murders, we inherently believe that the wrongdoer must not go unpunished and the victims restituted. It is the concept of justice.
Eventually in our system, these issues are addressed by our courts. Their actors are the most important component of the courts — from the judge, the clerk of court, the sheriff, and all the other units starting from the police and ending with the corrections officer. The selection, appointment and retention of personnel doing this work is the single critical factor to the success or failure of justice institutions. After all, an institution is made up of individuals and it is strong only when those who comprise it are people of integrity, competence and dedication.
There is no argument that a robust, efficient and working justice infrastructure is key for development — contracts honored, life and liberties protected. In fact, when projects are faulty or not completed, the parties end up in courts. Public interest and welfare ultimately relies on a well-built justice apparatus. If it is thus important, why is there no equal emphasis on the justice system as a national concern? This is in the context of daily crimes and continuing corruption.
The reasons are three. The first is that the presence or absence of physical infrastructure is easier to appreciate than a decaying justice infrastructure. The second is that given a period of time and amount of resources, a program of building infrastructure can resolve the problems. Be it a connector or a terminal, there are ready options. Justice reforms are a mystery and there are no solutions in sight. It is difficult to measure the performance or quality of the type of infrastructure. Bad drainage leads to floods and quick action. But bad appointments are just appointments even if the impact is worse.
Is our justice infrastructure potholed, cracked or falling? We may all nod and agree to the descriptions. Who is responsible and who is accountable? This is the third reason. While hard infrastructure is limited in time and space, justice infrastructure requires the whole system to be running well, together. Any part of the wheel that is broken, it does not turn. Short of working like an orchestra and more important than any highway, the justice infrastructure ought to be seamless. It can only deliver its service as fast as its narrowest bottleneck in the network.
In the classic example of a criminal trial, if any of the following: judge, prosecutor, public attorney, complainants, witnesses, respondents, their lawyers, or any one subpoenaed is absent, the hearing is postponed. Or if any piece of law is not met or a section of a rule or regulation is not complied, it too may result to cancellation of schedule. Repeated over many salas across the country over the course of years, it bogs down the docket like flight delays and clogs the cases like cars in EDSA. This is a crisis of another kind in our midst. This one affects our confidence and trust that we will be secure in our homes, at work and in our dealings.
There is an estimated 1,000,000 pending cases in our justice system. Assuming one case impacts five persons, there are actually 5,000,000 people at any one time who are suffering the delays, the red tape, and the costs of a fragmented justice infrastructure. Ask anyone who has filed or answered a case and the sentiments are the same — frustration to the verge of depression.
Adding the number of malpractices foisted by big business against consumers ranging from unreasonable fees and unilateral conditions to defective products and sloppy services, the justice infrastructure can only creak and sigh. It is too many times and in too many ways that we have been defrauded by those who seek to serve us. It is a rotten deal for users of all forms of infrastructure in the country.