In a significant move to modernize legal services for Muslim Filipinos, Senator Robin Padilla has championed a bill that would enable online access to Shari’ah Courts. During his sponsorship speech for Senate Bill 2613, Padilla highlighted the long-standing difficulties faced by Muslim Filipinos in submitting documents to these courts, a challenge that has persisted for over a decade and a half.
Padilla proposed amendments to Republic Act 9997, which include the development of a digital platform. This platform would facilitate the paperless filing of essential documents such as marriage, birth, and death certificates, as well as pleadings and other court submissions. He stressed the importance of partnering with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to implement this initiative.
The senator referenced the Supreme Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovation 2022-2027, which aims to enhance judicial services through timely and fair justice, transparency, accountability, inclusivity, and technological adaptability. Padilla pointed out the current resource constraints and limited access that Muslim Filipinos face when dealing with Shari’ah Courts.
He called for the Bureau of Legal Affairs to be empowered to offer administrative support to the community. Padilla assured that the proposed bill would not disrupt existing court regulations. Additionally, he emphasized the need for collaboration between the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) to gather comprehensive data on Muslim communities across various levels of governance.
Under Senate Bill 2613, the NCMF and DICT, in coordination with the Supreme Court, would establish the digital platform for paperless filings. Meanwhile, the NCMF and PSA would work together to ensure accurate statistical data collection on Muslim Filipinos from national to municipal levels.