PHILJA functions and training mandate
- Section 3 makes PHILJA a training school for justices, judges, court personnel, lawyers, and aspirants to judicial posts.
- Section 3 requires PHILJA to provide and implement a curriculum for judicial education.
- Section 3 authorizes PHILJA to conduct seminars, workshops, and other training programs to upgrade legal knowledge, moral fitness, probity, efficiency, and capability.
- Section 3 empowers PHILJA to perform other necessary functions and duties to carry out its mandate.
Location and governing Board structure
- Section 4 sets PHILJA’s location in Tagaytay City, or in such other place(s) as the Supreme Court may determine.
- Section 5 creates the Board of Trustees as PHILJA’s Governing Board.
- Section 5 provides that the Board of Trustees consists of:
- The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (ex officio Chairman);
- The Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (ex officio Vice Chairman);
- The Chancellor of the Academy;
- The Presiding Justices of the Court of Appeals and the Sandiganbayan;
- The Court Administrator;
- The President of the Philippine Judges Association;
- The President of the Philippine Association of Law Schools (ex officio members);
- A Judge of a first level court as an appointive member.
- Section 5 requires the appointive member to have served as a first level court judge for at least five (5) years and taught in a reputable law school for the same number of years.
- Section 5 provides appointment and term rules for the appointive member: appointed by the Supreme Court; term of one (1) calendar year; may be reappointed for another term.
- Section 5 provides that ex officio members serve for the duration of incumbency in their respective offices.
- Section 5 states all Board members serve without compensation but are entitled to reasonable honoraria/allowance for their duties.
Executive officials and employment rules
- Section 6 establishes PHILJA’s Executive Officials as the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and Executive Secretary.
- Section 6 provides that these officials are appointed by the Supreme Court for a term of two (2) years, without prejudice to subsequent reappointments.
- Section 6 sets qualifications:
- Chancellor and Vice Chancellor: meritorious service as a member of a collegiate appellate court for at least five (5) years, or as a Regional Trial Court Judge for at least ten (10) years, and meritorious service as law teacher in a reputable law school for at least five (5) years.
- Executive Secretary: the same requisite qualifications as above, and the same compensation as a Regional Trial Court Judge.
- Section 6 requires the Executive Secretary to serve on a full time basis and to be the Academy’s ex officio Recorder-Secretary of the Board of Trustees.
- Section 6 grants incumbent executive officials continuity: duly appointed and qualified officials continue until expiration of their initial terms, without prejudice to reappointment under the section.
- Section 6 fixes compensation/privileges:
- The Chancellor has the compensation and privileges of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
- The Vice Chancellor has the compensation and privileges of an Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals.
- Section 6 provides retirement and benefits treatment: service of executive officials in PHILJA is considered service in the Judiciary for retirement privileges, seniority, and other benefits except in those cases not allowed by law.
- Section 6 prohibits executive officials from engaging in the private practice of any profession.
Professorial Lecturers and Board appointments
- Section 7 provides PHILJA is staffed by a Corps of Professorial Lecturers.
- Section 7 states that any Board member nominates a Lecturer.
- Section 7 requires that upon a majority vote of the Board, the nomination is submitted to the Supreme Court for approval and formal appointment.
- Section 7 sets Lecturer term rules: appointed for a term of two (2) years, without prejudice to subsequent reappointments.
Academic programs, courses, participants
- Section 8 requires the Chancellor, in consultation with the Corps of Professorial Lecturers, to determine academic courses and the publication of a Judicial Journal and other legal writings.
- Section 8 mandates Board approval for the academic courses and publications.
- Section 9 requires the Chancellor, in consultation with the Corps of Professorial Lecturers, to determine the criteria for selection and admission of participants.
- Section 9 mandates Board approval for participant selection and admission criteria.
- Section 10 provides a mandatory condition for judicial advancement: after PHILJA is fully organized with its Corps of Professorial Lecturers and other personnel, only participants who have completed PHILJA programs and satisfactorily complied with all requirements may be appointed or promoted to any position or vacancy in the Judiciary.
Consortiums, mandatory education in conventions
- Section 11 authorizes PHILJA to enter into consortium agreements with educational and training institutions for orientation, career development, and continuing judicial education programs.
- Section 11 prohibits using PHILJA funds to pay personnel emoluments sourced from consortium institutions: honoraria, allowances, and other emoluments of participating personnel shall not be taken from PHILJA funds.
- Section 12 requires all conventions of judges and court personnel to include pertinent PHILJA educational programs under PHILJA rules and requirements.
Tax-exempt income and the Judicial Academy Fund
- Section 13 exempts all income, legacies, gifts, and donations for the benefit, support, or maintenance of the Academy from payment of all forms of taxes, including donors and donees’ taxes, fees, income tax, real estate, assessments, and other government charges.
- Section 14 provides that legacies, gifts, and donations to the Academy established under this law form a special fund called the Judicial Academy Fund.
- Section 14 requires the Judicial Academy Fund to be administered and disbursed by the Board of Trustees exclusively for the purposes of the Act.
Property transfer, appropriation, and institutional continuity
- Section 15 provides that properties (real or personal) then pertaining to the Academy are automatically transferred to PHILJA upon the effectivity of the Act, unless otherwise provided in the original deed of conveyance, donation, grant, or transfer.
- Section 16 requires that amounts necessary to carry out the Act—including operation, maintenance, and improvement of the Academy—are included in the General Appropriations Act for 1999 and every year thereafter under the program of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
Separability, repeal, and effectivity rule
- Section 17 provides separability: if any section or provision is adjudged invalid, the other provisions not affected remain in force.
- Section 18 repeals or amends all laws, rules, and regulations inconsistent with the Act.
- Section 19 sets effectivity at fifteen (15) days after complete publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation, whichever comes earlier.