Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh led the first National Justice Zone Meeting on sharing of Good Practices and WriteShop on Policy Recommendations; providing the keynote address.
Justice Zones are areas where local justice sector actors such as police, public attorneys, and judges work together to identify common problems and generate common solutions. Tagaytay City was the 11th Justice Zone to be launched in June 2023, joining Quezon City, Cebu, Angeles, Davao, Bacolod, Naga, Calamba, Balanga, Baguio, Zamboanga.
The Philippine Development Plan stipulates the establishment and/or strengthening of coordination mechanisms to improve sector efficiency and accountability.
The objective of the creation of the justice zones revolve around the concept of coordination that helps to improve efficiency in the administration of justice, addresses and resolves problems arising in the justice system, and ensures that all agencies and institutions working in the administration of justice are working effectively together towards a common goal of delivering swift and fair justice.
The National Meeting on 31 August to 1 September, aims to create a venue for coordination, collaboration, and communication among justice zones across the country. It will enable the sharing of good practices that will help the justice zones fill gaps in knowledge and improve efficiency, and encourage leadership.
There were six panel discussions on a variety of good practices in: Institutionalization of Justice Zones; Court Decongestion; Jail Decongestion; Barangay Justice System; Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Persons Deprived of Liberty; and Promoting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion. At the end of the two-day meeting, the justice zones aim to replicate these practices as applicable to their areas.
The National Meeting also includes a writeshop where participants formulate recommendations that address priority challenges and issues that affect the operationalization of justice zones for submission to the TWG on Process and Capacity Building and the TWG on Legislative Agenda and Policies.