The Judiciary
The Judiciary
The Judiciary
JUDICIARY
REPORTER
NATHANIEL MISCALA
MARY JANE EDANO
Judicial Power
The power to decide on legal disputes is known as judicial power.
Article VIII, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution provides that "judicial
power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such other lower
courts as may be established by law”.
As provided in the same section, "it includes the duty of the courts of
justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally
demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has
been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of
jurisdiction or the part of any branch or instrumentality of the
Government." Hence, the central function of the judges is to adjudicate
and interpret the law.
The judicial branch is one of the three independent, coequal, and coordinate branches
of the government. The independence of the Philippine judiciary is manifested in the
following:
:
Creation of the Judicial and Bar Council
Expanded power of judicial review
Fiscal autonomy of the judiciary
to review proclamation of martial law and the
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus
Security of tenure of the judges
The Supreme Court as judge in presidential elections
Structure ,Organization , and Composition
of the Judiciary
The present judiciary is comprised of regular courts tasked to
administer justice. These are organized into four, the first two being
review courts and the last two being trial courts:
Supreme Court
Court of appeals
Regional trial courts
Metropolitan trial courts
Municipal trial courts
Municipal Circuit trial courts
Municipal trial courts in city
There are also special courts, which are tribunals that have limited jurisdiction over certain eases or
controversies.
Shari’ a Cort
-which has the powers similar to the regular courts but the subjects
over whom judicial powers are exercised are limited to Muslim
Filipinos (Panga langan 2011).
Court of tax Appeals
-which retains exclusive appellate jurisdiction to review by appeal not
only civil tax cases but also those that are criminal in nature.
Sandiganbayan
-is a special court that has jurisdiction over civil cases (including
graft , corruption , and other offenses ) committed by public officers
and employees and those in government-owned or government-
controlled corporations.
The expanded judicial system of the Philippines
also includes quasi-courts or quasi-judicial
agencies.
These are bodies or agencies that exercise adjudicatory
powers in certain types of controversies, While judicial
powers technically pertain to and are exercised only by
courts, agencies such as the Civil Service Commission ,
Commission on Elections and commission on Audit also
posses quasi-judicial powers (Pangalangan 2011).
The following presents the organization of regular courts:
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is also known as the court of last resort. It is
composed of 1 chief of justice and 14 associate justice.