Serious technical flaw of counsel or trial court judge's ignorance of the law?

• Main Author: Caraan, Hilario S.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: Ignorance (Law); Procedure (Law); Pre-trial procedure; Law
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/13422
• Institution: De La Salle University

This legal brief raises the timely question: "Who shall guard the judicial guardians?" as it attempts to persuade the appellate court (Regional Trial Court of Caloocan City) in an ejectment suit that the lower court-trial judge committed serious errors of law in dismissing outrightly an ejectment suit filed by plaintiff for an alleged serious technical flaw committed by her counsel, particularly in personally signing the "Certificate of Non-Forum Shopping" required to be attached to the Complaint, instead of the plaintiff herself as required by the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure. The alleged dismissal on technically was made by the trial court judge only after the preliminary conference was already conducted and after parties had simultaneously submitted their respective position papers and/or memoranda.The brief has unequivocally demonstrated that efficient administration of justice requires continuous updating by the judges of their knowledge of the laws and regulations they are supposed to interpret, including the decisions and circulars of the Supreme Court. As the researcher-presentor raises the issue, he acknowledges the fact that while Philippine laws and procedures have the ready answers, the public have yet to feel the solution.