BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – Although the Palace has not declared Monday, March 11, as a national regular holiday, litigants and litigators attending the court proceedings in this metropolis and the entire country may not be able to see lady judges in their salas today.The Supreme Court announced over the weekend that women judges in the country will have a “day off” today in observance of the International Day of Women Judges.
Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice and Acting Chief Justice Marvic Leonen issued a memorandum order dated March 8, 2024 enjoining all the tribunal’s personnel on the observance of International Day of Women Judges yesterday, March 10.
The United Nations has declared March 10 as the International Day of Women Judges, but this year, this will be observed on the 11th, according to Leonen’s memorandum order.
“As we commemorate this international day, I am inviting all justices, judges, and court personnel to unite and participate in observing the role women in the judiciary play to strengthen our judicial institutions and uphold judicial integrity,” Leonen said in the memorandum.
He hailed women judges’ resilience, persistence and determination to promote meaningful freedoms, and their key role in upholding the rule of law, equality and peaceful dispute resolution.
“We cannot emphasize enough the role women play in our society and the role women judges play in upholding the rule of law,” he added.
The International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) and the Philippine Women Judges Association (PWJA) joined the global community in celebrating March 10, 2024, as the International Day of Women Judges.
Associate Justices Amy Lazaro-Javier and Maria Filomena Singh, the president and vice president, respectively, of PWJA, have acknowledged the dedication of women judges as they continue to contribute their talents and skills to foster positive change.
Themed “Empathy and Action,” the PWJA officials have also recognized the exemplary leadership of women judges in promoting the rule of law and equality.
“We also hope that women from the judiciary shall continue to contribute their talents and skills not only in their respective countries, but also to the international community,” they added.
For her part, Justice Singh has urged women to speak up if they feel they have been abused, or their rights have been violated.
Speaking as a guest speaker during the flag-raising ceremony at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in celebration of Women’s Month on March 4, Justice Singh shared her journey in work and in life that led to where she is now — the 194th Associate Justice of the High Court.
As a then-young litigation lawyer, Justice Singh recalled that male judges were more accommodating than female judges.
When she became a judge, a fellow female judge, whom she had idolized for being a luminary in Family Law, told her that female judges should not get appointed to the Judiciary while they are still of child-bearing age because work is delegated to others when they go on maternity leave.
“That became a bitter lesson for me. So sabi ko, I will not be like that …In my courts, those of you who had the chance to appear in trial courts in Quezon City, you would know that if you were young then, I would be extra helpful to both men and women,” she said.
Justice Singh served as presiding judge of the Metropolitan Trial Court, Quezon City (QC) from 2002 to 2007 and of the Regional Trial Court, QC from 2007-2014, and as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals from 2014 to 2022 before she was appointed the 194th Associate Justice on May 18, 2022.
Justice Singh said that in the 122 years of Supreme Court, only 18 women have been appointed out of 194 associate justices.
According to the PWJA’s 2020 convention, out of 2,024 judges and justices in the country, 50.49 percent are women.
She shared that in a study on gender representation and mobility in the judiciary to trace the progression of women in the judicial hierarchy, they identified this as a factor why only a few women make it to the Supreme Court — women themselves do not put themselves up for the vacancy.
She said some found the work too demanding for women because women have other personal duties as a wife, a mother, a sibling, and so forth and so on.
She added that the Judiciary is addressing this through Her Story, a campaign that highlights the stories of some of our judges who face gender challenges and gender-based discrimination in their careers but were nevertheless able to rise against these challenges and succeed.
“Gusto namin ipakita sa kanila that they can handle their professional and, at the same time, their obligations. Katulad ko, I am a mother of four but I am a single parent. Napakahirap but I managed. Now, all my kids are done studying. I think I’ve managed to balance all these things. So it’s not impossible. We can do it. I’m sure all of you can identify with these challenges. But what is important is that we do something about it,” stressed Justice Singh.
She also shared that at every opportunity, she has always advised law students “that they have to start speaking for themselves. If we feel that we have been abused or our rights have been violated, we have to speak up. Lalo na tayong mga abogado. If we cannot defend our rights, we have no personality to defend other people’s rights.”/PN
