Chief Justice Renato C. Corona has vowed to give priority to expediting resolution of administrative cases filed against lower court judges in a bid to boost their morale and de-clog the Supreme Court’s (SC’s) docket.

Corona said the common complaint among judges was that the administrative cases against them have dragged on, derailing their promotion in the meantime.

“For the sake of the morale of the judges, we have to speed up the resolution of their administrative cases. Those who are guilty must be penalized and those who are not must be absolved right away so they can focus on their job,” Corona told reporters in an interview.

The country’s chief magistrate said he intends to come up with rules that would expedite the resolution of administrative cases among judges and court personnel.

He also intends to give the Office of Court Administrator (OCA) the power to dismiss administrative cases instantly and prevent the High Court from going over these cases.

The OCA is assigned with the supervision and administration of the lower courts and their personnel. It reports and recommends to the high tribunal all actions that affect lower court management, personal and financial administration and administrative discipline as complaints against judges and court personnel are filed with this office.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez welcomed the plan of the new Chief Justice, saying this could help shield magistrates from harassment suits by disgruntled litigants.

“We may no longer require the respondent judge to comment and immediately dismiss the complaint if from the very beginning we don’t find any evidence to support it,” Marquez said.

Marquez nonetheless acknowledged that there are also valid complaints against judges, especially if deals with bribery and extortion.

“We entertain even anonymous complaints provided there are sufficient details from where we can start the investigation,” Marquez said.