Supreme Court signs MOU with Australian Federal Circuit and Family Court

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

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

The signing event occurred 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 May 10, Friday.

Among the key personalities joining the event was 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 in Australia, who attended the event virtually.

Gesmundo and Alstergen also signed the MOU.

About the MOU

Lawyer Camille Sue Mae Ting, the spokesperson of the Supreme Court, said that 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 memorandum’s validity is five years, but it is renewable depending on the parties.

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The primary objective of the said understanding is to “undertake programs for judicial cooperation.”

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

Some of these areas, she said, include enhancing access to the Family Courts for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in society, including women and children.

Through the MOU, Ting added that the parties would also want to enhance the leadership opportunities of the judges in the Family Courts.

Another objective was for capacity building of the judges in terms of human trafficking cases, online sexual abuse, and exploitation of children.

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

Appreciating women judges

There were 427 judges from the Philippines across the regions present in the convention seminar. There were also 39 judges from foreign countries and 16 from Asia-Pacific countries.

In his speech, Gesmundo praised the women judges, whose population has dominated in their branch.

“More and more women are taking up active roles in society. Even in our law schools, females outnumber males 3:1. It made me think, with this trend, more women should be appointed as judges,” the chief justice said.

Gesmundo added that women judges have the capability to “see” what he or any male judges could not.

“How you have fought discrimination, inequality, misogyny, violence, and abuse through generations has molded you in a different cast, with an entirely independent and distinctive outlook and introspection that draws from a well of life-altering experiences. This is the extraordinary power that women judges bring the bench,” Gesmundo said before hundreds of women judges.

Meanwhile, Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, who also serves as 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,” they  “fortify and elevate accessibility to justice.”

“If we fail to account for the economic, structural, and cultural barriers caused by gender discrimination, the rule of law becomes unreliable, out-of-touch, and unresponsive,” Singh said.

The event’s theme was “Women Lead: Transforming Asia-Pacific and Changing the World.”

For three days, the women judges will have plenary discussions on various topics like Initiatives of Women Judges towards Gender Parity at All Levels of the Judiciary, The Impact of the Climate Crisis on Women and Children, and Gender Inclusivity and Women Empowerment.

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