ARTIFICIAL technology (AI) can be of great help to the judiciary but it should never replace the human elements of justice, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said.

Gesmundo emphasized the transformative role of technology, particularly AI, in reshaping the judicial landscape as he spoke before his fellow judiciary leaders last Saturday at the 19th Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and the Pacific in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The biennial gathering brings together judiciary leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region to discuss critical issues facing justice systems today, particularly in the context of global challenges and technological advancements.

Speaking on the Regulation of the Legal Profession and the Education of Lawyers in an Era of Artificial Intelligence, Gesmundo highlighted the opportunities and challenges AI presents to deliver justice efficiently as he underscored the moral responsibility of judiciary leaders to guide their institutions through rapid technological changes.

Gesmundo told the gathering about the significant potential of AI to assist judges in streamlining administrative tasks, expediting legal research, and predicting judicial outcomes.

Citing examples from foreign jurisdictions, he noted that AI is already used in courts for tasks such as examining evidence and preparing case files.

However, he stressed that AI should support judicial efficiency but never replace the human elements of justice.

“Courts should still be populated with human judges if we are to expect that empathy and compassion would still go into the consideration of granting equitable remedies,” Gesmundo said, as he emphasized the courts’ role in ensuring that AI remains a tool for judicial efficiency without compromising the integrity and human-centric nature of justice.

“While AI can enhance judicial processes, it lacks essential human qualities like empathy, ethical discretion, and the ability to adapt to societal changes — elements crucial for ensuring that justice is not only administered efficiently but also fairly and compassionately,” he added.

Last month, Court Administrator Raul Villanueva told the Senate during the hearing on the Judiciary’s 2025 budget that the SC is looking into using AI to speed up the drafting of decisions and improve operations in the judiciary, adding that the High Court was already developing voice-to-text transcription.

At the moment, Villanueva said they are using AI for monitoring cases and doing research.

During the hearing, Associate Justice Mario Lopez also assured the Senate the court was not and will not be totally dependent on AI as he said “there is some humanity involved in the disposition of cases.”

Gesmundo also told the Kuala Lumpur gathering of the SC’s innovations under the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI), its five-year reform agenda, which incorporates AI-driven programs in court processes to improve efficiency and access to justice.

A PASAY City court has ordered the arrest of businessman and an employee of a resort hotel for estafa after finding basis in the case filed by state prosecutors accusing them of defrauding a trading company of P12 million.

In a one-page warrant issued on October 11, Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch Acting Judge Ronald August Tan ordered the arrest of businessman Lavish Mohan Paryani and Reigna Reyes.

The Department of Justice said Reyes was arrested the following day, October 12, by operatives of the Southern Police District while Paryani remained at large.

The arrest order stemmed from a complaint filed by RTI Incorporated alleging the two swindled the company in a fraudulent business deal.

RTI corporate treasurer Maria Anita Turqueza said Paryani requested Filipino-Indian businessman Rajiv Chandiramani to arrange a business meeting with RTI and Reyes.

During the meeting held on April 2, Paryani, Reyes and RTI officials met with directors of Ley Lahs 888 International Trading Incorporated, during which they informed RTI that they have a business transaction with Solaire Resorts and Casino totaling P20 million in high-end electronics and home appliances.

The respondents also claimed during the meeting that they obtained the business from Solaire because of Reyes’ ties with the said company as a procurement officer.

The complaint, which was filed with the Pasay City prosecutor’s office, alleged that the respondents then requested a P10-million loan from RTI with repayment within 90 days and a P2 million interest.

After the loan, the respondents cut off communication with RTI, and the latter discovered that the purchase orders were fraudulent and the check’s associated bank account had been closed.

Reyes denied her role, saying she was not present during the April meeting and that she is not associated with Ley Lahs, although she said she had a personal relationship with Paryani.

She also told the prosecutor’s office she could not be held for estafa as she did not issue the check that bounced.

Paryani ailed to submit his counter-affidavit.

“After a comprehensive evaluation of the allegations of the complainant, together with the pieces of documentary evidence submitted to this Office, the undersigned finds prima facie evidence to indict the respondents for the crime of estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code,” said the October 3 resolution issued by Pasay City Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Marcos Dela Cruz Jr.

“It is the observation of the undersigned that the act of issuing the checks was the efficient cause of defraudation, and which issuance was made prior to or simultaneous with the act of fraud. It is considered deceitful on the part of the respondents when the subject check was issued and that RTI Incorporated would not have parted with its money were it not for the issuance of the subject check,” the resolution added.

ONE hundred more inmates from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City have been transferred to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm as part of the overall efforts of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Corrections to decongest the national penitentiary.

BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said the inmates were transferred last Saturday under tight guard from 30 correction officers, BuCor SWAT and the PNP.

“Of the said number, 20 are from the Reception and Diagnostic Center and 80 from the Medium Security Camp,” Catapang said. “They left the NBP Saturday night and arrived safely at Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm early morning Sunday.”

Last week, Catapang said 740 inmates were released from August to October this year, bringing to 16,657 inmates released since 2022 as part of the agency’s overall efforts to decongest its prison facilities, especially the NBP.

The NBP and six other operating prison and penal farms of BuCor nationwide hold over 52,000 inmates, although their total capacity is only around 12,000, or an average congestion rate of 231 percent.

The national penitentiary alone holds over 28,000 inmates, a far cry from its original capacity of 9,885 when it was built.

This prompted the DOJ, the mother agency of BuCor, to institute a decongestion program in 2022, particularly at the NBP before its planned closure in 2028 to give way to a commercial and business center.

DISMISSED Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo may have used a private airstrip in the country to escape to Malaysia last July, the Bureau of Immigration said yesterday.

BI spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said their analysis of how Guo managed to slip out of the country showed she did not use any major international airport or seaport.

“We believe that she might have used a private airstrip, upang iligal po na makaalis ng bansa (to illegally leave the country) without the knowledge of authorities,” Sandoval told Unang Balita

Sandoval explained that private airstrips are usually managed by a ground handler who informs and asks for clearance from concerned government agencies.

She said they are now investigating this angle to pin down those who assisted Guo in leaving the country despite her name being included in the BI’s immigration lookout bulletin order.

Sandoval added they are also coordinating with their Malaysian counterparts to check the flight manifests of aircraft that arrived in Malaysia during that period.

Immigration Commissioner Joel Viado told a Senate hearing earlier this week that Guo entered Malaysia through a flight that landed on July 18.

She was later apprehended in Indonesia and turned over to Philippine authorities last September 5.

Guo and her supposed sister, Sheila Guo, told the Senate inquiry that they fled the Philippines aboard boats before arriving in Sabah.

Guo is facing a non-bailable qualified human trafficking case before a Pasig court as well as a graft case before a Valenzuela court.

The Office of the Solicitor General has also filed a quo warranto petition against her to cancel her birth certificate.

Money laundering charges had also been filed against her before the Department of Justice.

Lawmakers and the DOJ are also looking at claims that she is a Chinese spy.

International television news channel Al Jazeera aired a documentary in which Guo was tagged as a Chinese spy by Chinese businessman She Zhijiang, who is jailed in Thailand.

She, who is fighting extradition to China, identified Guo as Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping.

The dismissed mayor has denied being a Chinese spy or knowing She.

Allegations that Guo may be a spy surfaced after the Senate probed her alleged links to the operation of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Bamban that was raided by the authorities due to alleged illegal activities, aided in no small part by the murky details of her citizenship.

OTHER GUOS?

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said it has received reports about other Chinese citizens occupying local government positions, just like Guo before her dismissal as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac.

This statement, coming from PAOCC executive Gilbert Cruz, bolstered the earlier statement of Sen. JV Ejercito who expressed the belief there are more Chinese citizens holding positions in local government units.

Ejercito said he has met some of the Chinese who have been elected to local positions, adding the Commission on Elections should conduct a probe “so we can prevent another Alice Guo (from) being able to run again in our government.”

“We (have) received reports although these are subject to validation,” said Cruz, adding: “We’ve been receiving a lot of messages especially now that the election is coming.”

The eight-day filing of certificates of candidacies for candidates ended last Tuesday. 

“We have to validate (these reports). We’re validating the information that reached us,” said Cruz, adding: “That’s possible, that it’s not limited to Alice Guo.” — With Victor Reyes

PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. has appointed Muntinlupa regional trial court Judge Gener Gito as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan.

Gito is the judge who acquitted former Sen. Leila de Lima in the third and last drug case filed by the Duterte administration.

Gito’s appointment was conveyed by the Office of the President to the Supreme Court in a letter dated October 8.

“Pursuant to the provisions of existing laws, you are hereby appointed Associate Justice, Sandiganbayan, vice Oscar Herrera Jr.,” Malacañang’s transmittal letter stated.

Herrera retired in May this year.

Aside from acquitting De Lima, Gito is also handling the case against former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag in connection to the killing of Bilibid inmate Jun Villamor, the alleged middleman in the 2023 killing of radio broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa.

Last year, Gito was among the 27 names submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council to Malacañang for three vacant positions in the Court of Appeals, where his wife Emily Gaspar Gito serves as an Associate Justice.

In 2019, Gito was awarded the Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano Award by the Society for Judicial Excellence for being the most outstanding RTC judge in the country.   

A native of Victoria, Mindoro Oriental, Gito graduated with a political science degree from the University of Batangas and completed his law studies at the San Sebastian College-Recoletos.

He earned his Master of Laws at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and is a graduate of the Doctor of Civil Law program of UST.

He taught at several universities and worked at the Senate and several law offices before joining the Judiciary.   

Congratulatory messages lauding Gito’s appointment were posted by the San Sebastian College of Law and the University of Sto. Tomas Graduate School of Law.

“Congratulations, Justice Gener M. Gito (SSC-R Law 1997), on your appointment as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan. Bravo Baste!” said the San Sebastian College of Law.

“Congratulations to Justice Gener M. Gito, DCL, an alumnus of the Doctor of Civil Law program (Class of 2016) and a valued member of our academic staff. We are honored to celebrate his appointment as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan. The entire GS Law community takes pride in this outstanding accomplishment,” the UST Graduate School of Law also said.

IN partnership with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Education is set to roll out a financial literacy program to teach students and out-of-school youth how to manage their finances and avoid being victimized by investment scams.

The program, dubbed “SEC Communication, Advocacy and Network” is in the Memorandum of Agreement signed last Wednesday between DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara and SEC chief Emilio Aquino.

The MOA will see them collaborate in the creation and distribution of educational materials on how to manage and invest finances, as well as on financial literacy and how not to be victimized by investment scams.

The two will also “collaborate in the conduct of “web-based training programs.”

Aside from students and OSY, the DepEd said teachers and non-teaching personnel will also be targeted by the program to prevent them from falling victim to scams, especially those who promise quick returns on their investment.

“The partnership will also hold activities that will help the SEC in flagging investment scams by sharing information about suspicious business activities, monitoring and reporting investment-taking activities, and the like, within the DeEd’s jurisdiction,” the DepEd added.

In 2020, then DepEd chief Leonor Briones issued an advisory warning teachers and non-teaching personnel from putting their money in get-rich-quick schemes.

Briones’ advisory said these schemes lure teachers with promises of huge returns by investing their money while dangling the prospects of higher net pay, cars and vacation, among others.

THE Department of Education (DepEd) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) yesterday formalized their partnership to expand educational opportunities through the Alternative Learning System (ALS) for inmates under the latter’s care.

Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara said the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) underscores the

importance of education as a key component in rehabilitation and reintegration and highlights the shared commitment of the two agencies to improve the well-being and educational rights of persons deprived of liberty (PDLS).

He added that the MOA will boost the BJMP’s “Tagapangalaga Ko, Guro Ko” program, which has been instrumental in providing continued education to inmates since 2010.

“Together, we’re not just giving education; we are providing hope, we are providing dignity, we are providing a brighter future,” Angara said.

DepEd records show that some 2,000 inmates have enrolled in the ALS over the past three years.

For school year 2023-2024, there are 5,596 PDLs who are enrolled in elementary; 9,286 in junior high school; and 5,983 in senior high school under the program.

“Through this MOA, we are reinforcing our commitment to leave no one behind. With your help, we reaffirm that every Filipino, no matter their circumstances, deserves a chance to learn and grow,” Angara said.

For his part, BJMP chief Ruel Rivera expressed his gratitude to the DepEd for its dedication to creating meaningful change in the lives of inmates.

“Ang inisyatibong ito ay isang patunay ng pinagsamang pagsisikap ng BJMP katuwang ang Kagawaran ng Edukasyon na sumasailalim sa isang layunin na lumikha ng mas makatarungan at makataong lipunan sa pamamagitan ng pagpapahalaga sa edukasyon (This initiative is a testament to the effort of the BJMP and the Department of Education to have a just and humane society where education is given primacy),” Rivera said.

He said that by expanding educational access, the DepEd will play a crucial role in developing the skills of inmates, boosting their self-esteem, and preparing them for reintegration to society.

THE Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh yesterday said Cambodian authorities rescued last month 20 Filipino women who were victimized by illegal online recruiters.

The embassy said the women were victims of a surrogacy scheme.

A surrogate mother is one who agrees to become pregnant and give birth to a child for another person. A surrogacy arrangement is usually done when pregnancy is medically impossible or too risky for the intended mother.

Surrogacy is banned in Cambodia.

The embassy said that at the time of the rescue, 13 of the women were already in various stages of pregnancy.

The pregnant women are now sheltered in a local hospital, while the seven others are scheduled for repatriation to Manila.

“The Cambodian law enforcement authorities have confirmed that the rescue was made in line with the country’s law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation,” the embassy said, adding the women were rescued in Kandal Province on September 23.

The embassy said preliminary interviews they conducted on the rescued Filipinas showed they were recruited online “by an individual whose identity and nationality have yet to be determined conclusively.”

“The recruiter, with an apparently assumed name, arranged for the women to travel to another Southeast Asian country but eventually sent them to Cambodia where surrogacy is banned. At the time of their rescue, the women were found to be under the care of a local nanny, together with four other women from a neighboring country,” it also said.

It added assistance are being provided to the rescued women, including personal and pre-natal needs.

“The Embassy is also closely coordinating with Cambodian authorities for the speedy resolution of this case, with a view to protecting the rights and welfare of the Filipino women,” the embassy said.

FOR the third straight year, Ateneo de Manila University retained its ranking as the top university in the Philippines, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking.

The 2025 rankings released yesterday showed Ateneo ranked in the 1,001-1,200 bracket and the state-run University of the Philippines in the 1,201-1,500 bracket.

“I congratulate everyone in the University–students, faculty, staff, administrators, and professionals–on this latest achievement,” Ateneo University President Fr. Roberto Yap said in a statement.

“The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is a global recognition that Ateneo de Manila is a top-performing university in the Philippines. However, rankings like these do not fully define what Ateneo stands for; they are merely tools for benchmarking and continual improvement as an institution,” he added.

In the 2024 and 2023 ranking, Ateneo was ranked at 1,001 to 1, 200 and 801 to 1,000 bracket.

De La Salle University, Mapua University, University of Sto. Tomas and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology were ranked in the 1500+ bracket.

Fifteen other Philippine universities were listed as “reporter” institutions, meaning they participated in the ranking process and provided data but did not meet the eligibility criteria to receive a rank.

These include the Cebu Technological University, Central Luzon State University, De La Salle College of St. Benilde, Lyceum Northwestern University, Manila Central University, National University, Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, Philippine State College of Aeronautics, Quezon City University, Saint Louis University, Tarlac Agricultural University, University of Eastern Philippines, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, University of the Immaculate Concepcion and Visayas State University.

For this round, THE said a total of 2,092 institutions from 115 countries and territories were ranked.

The rankings are based on THE Five Pillars, namely, teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook.

The rankings per pillar are as follows: Teaching (29.5% of overall score), Research Environment 29%), Research Quality (30%), Industry (4%), and International Outlook (7.5%).

Oxford University retained its top spot in the ranking for the ninth consecutive year, bolstered by significant improvements in industry engagement and teaching, while Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose to second, overtaking Stanford, which dropped to sixth.

Harvard University climbed to third, one notch from its previous place, while in fourth and fifth places were Princeton University and University of Cambridge, respectively.

In seventh and eighth places were California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley.

Rounding up the ninth and tenth places were Imperial College London and Yale University.

First launched in 2004, the World University Rankings is one of the most authoritative global higher education ranking tables.

The rankings are based on institutions’ performance in teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

DISMISSED Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes yesterday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from cancelling his certificate of candidacy (COC) and prohibiting him from running in the 2025 midterm and local elections.

In his petition for certiorari, prohibition and injunction, Cortes also asked the High Court to issue a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction to stop the implementation of Comelec Resolution 1104-A cancelling his COC.

The Comelec resolution authorized the poll body to deny Cortes’ COC after his dismissal by the Office of the Ombudsman for grave misconduct related to his alleged decision allowing a batching plant to operate from 2020 to 2022 without the required business permit, sanitary permit, and environment clearance.

This despite the recommendations of the Mandaue City Environment and Natural Resources for its closure as early as 2020.

Cortes named Comelec chairman George Garcia and the other commissioners as respondents in his petition.

“It is unconstitutional to deny me the right to run as a candidate since the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman is not final and executory, and can still be appealed,” Cortes’ petition said.

The dismissed mayor earlier questioned the decision of the poll body, saying it violates his constitutional right to due process while also depriving the voters in Mandaue City of the right to choose who they want to lead the local government. Cortes filed his COC for mayor last Friday under the One Cebu party.