Before leaving the Philippines, I was helping advocate for the adoption of trial by jury into the country's judicial system.
I have since left the group but following years of ground work, advocates now led by my good friend Megs Relente, have incorporated and now call themselves Kamalayan sa Katarungan ng Lahing Kayumanggi, Inc. They are organizing their first convention to formally open the discussion towards changing the judicial system.
The convention is entitled Trial By Jury in the Philippines with the theme TRIAL by JURY : A STEP TOWARDS A BETTER PHILIPPINES and will be held on 9 June 2011 at the Great Eastern Hotel in Quezon Avenue. Registration fee is 1000PhP. Early bird discount of 800Php will be available until 27 May.
I won't even begin to discuss the benefits of a jury system because it's best left to the experts, but seeing how judges fear for their lives when presiding over controversial criminal trials and not to mention accusations of graft and corrupt practices of these men and women in robes, I believe having a jury is the best way of handing out justice.
