SC signs MOU with Australian Federal Circuit and Family Court

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (center) and Chief Justice William Alstergren (in Zoom meeting) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Philippine Supreme Court and the Australian Federal Circuit and Family Court on May 8. in Cebu City. CDN Digital Photo | Niña Mae Oliverio

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Over 400 domestic and foreign judges witnessed the first-ever signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Judiciary of the Philippines and Australia on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Cebu City.

The signing event took place during the 29th Annual Convention Seminar of the Philippine Women Judges Association (PWJA) and the 2024 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), which ends on Friday, May 10.

Key personalities who participated in the event included Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, HE Hae Hyong Yu, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, and Chief Justice William Alstergren of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, who attended the event . virtually.

Gesmundo and Alstergen also signed the MOU.

About the MOU

Supreme Court spokesperson Attorney Camille Sue Mae Ting said it is a “memorandum of judicial cooperation” between the Supreme Court of the Philippines and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The spokesperson said the validity of the memorandum is five years, but it is extendable depending on the parties.

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The primary purpose of the said agreement is to ‘undertake judicial cooperation programmes’.

“It has an appendix where they specify the target areas for the first two years,” Ting said.

Some of these areas, she said, include improving access to family courts for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in society, including women and children.

Through the MOU, Ting added that the parties would also like to increase the leadership opportunities of judges in the family courts.

Another goal was to build the capacity of judges in the field of human trafficking cases, internet sexual abuse and child exploitation.

“The forms of judicial cooperation would include holding meetings, study visits, training and sharing of expertise,” Ting added.

Appreciation for female judges

There were 427 judges from the Philippines from all regions present at the congressional seminar. There were also 39 judges from abroad and 16 from countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

In his speech, Gesmundo praised the female judges, whose population has dominated their industry.

“More and more women are taking an active role in society. Even in our law schools, women outnumber men (3:1). It prompted me to appoint more women as judges with this trend,” the Chief Justice said.

Gesmundo added that female judges have the ability to “see” what he and male judges could not see.

“The way you have fought discrimination, inequality, misogyny, violence and abuse for generations has cast you in a different cast, with a completely independent and distinctive outlook and introspection that draws from a well of life-changing experiences. This is the extraordinary power that female judges bring,” Gesmundo said before hundreds of female judges.

Meanwhile, Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, who is also Executive Vice President of PWJA and Regional Director of IAWJ Asia-Pacific, said that to ensure that the courts are “gender sensitive and gender fair”, “strengthening and improving the accessibility of the courts.”

“If we do not take into account the economic, structural and cultural barriers created by gender discrimination, the rule of law becomes unreliable, unreachable and unresponsive,” Singh said.

The theme of the event was ‘Women Lead: Transforming Asia-Pacific and Changing the World’.

For three days, the women judges will hold plenary discussions on various topics, such as initiatives by women judges for gender equality at all levels of the judiciary, the impact of the climate crisis on women and children, and gender inclusivity and women’s empowerment.

Last March, during the celebration of International Women’s Month, Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, co-chairman of the Supreme Court’s Committee on Gender Response in the Judiciary (CGRJ), said that of the nearly 2,000 judges in the country, 55 percent are women.

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