Episode 5 - Jurisdiciton of Courts

[MUSIC] The jurisdiction of a court refers to the power and authority it is given to decide cases. The Supreme Court's jurisdiction is provided in Section 5 Article 8 of the 1987 Constitution. The Supreme Court has two kinds of jurisdiction, original and appellate. The original jurisdiction of the court means that it can take on any petition and it challenge to any law, rule, ordinance or even decision where it is filed directly with the Supreme Court. It generally involves issues involving grave abuse of discretion on the part of any branch, instrumentality or agency of government, which may include the executive branch as well as the legislative branch. This power is provided under Article 8 Section 1, paragraph 2 of the 1987 Constitution. Its appellate jurisdiction would involve petitions or appeals from the third level courts, which are the court of appeals, the court of tax appeals, the San Degen Bayan. And this would involve review of decisions and judgments rendered by these courts of the third level. The same section enumerates the following as falling within the appellate jurisdiction. All cases in which the Constitutionality or validity of any treaty, international or executive agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance or regulation is in question. The most common approach by which a case reaches a Supreme Court is through an appeal from a decision rendered by a lower court. Appeal cases generally originate from lawsuits or criminal indictments filed and tried before the trial courts. This Supreme Court also has the power to issue rites and processes under special rules like the rules on the writ of Amparo, Javier's data and Cali-Kasan. These decisions of the trial courts may then be elevated on appeal to the court of appeals. The other mode by which a case reaches a Supreme Court is through an original petition filed directly with the Supreme Court. Apart from the decisions of the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court may also directly review on appeal decisions rendered by the San Degen Bayan and the Court of Tax Appeals. The court has concurrent jurisdiction with the lower courts to hear petitions for the search diary, prohibition, mandamos, co-aranto and Javier's court puse. One of these courts is the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals is the primary appellate court in the Philippines. It exercises appellate jurisdiction over judgments of the courts of the second level, which are the RDCs. It is presided over by presiding justice. It has stations in Manila, in Kagayan Di Auro for Mindanao and in Sebu for the Visayas. Formerly called as the Court of First Instance and the Justice of the Peace Courts, the trial court system in the country are now composed of courts of the first level and courts of the second level. First level trial courts are the Metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts and municipal circuit trial courts. Another Batas Pambansa 1-2-9, or the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980, the second level courts have the power to try civil cases, subject to a jurisdictional amount below which the case will fall under the jurisdiction of the courts of the first level. The second level courts also have the jurisdiction to try criminal cases, punishable by a penalty greater than six months of imprisonment. The Supreme Court may also designate certain branches of the regional trial courts to handle exclusively criminal cases, juvenile and domestic relation cases, agrarian cases, some urban land reform cases, and other special cases that are in need of a speedy administration of justice as determined by the Supreme Court. RDCs also have the power to exercise appellate jurisdiction over all cases, decided by the Metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts and the municipal circuit trial courts in their respective territorial jurisdictions. On the same level as the first level courts are the Sharia Circuit Courts or SCC, while on the same level as the second level courts are the Sharia District Courts or SDC. The Sharia Courts are courts that have been created by law in order to address the regime of personal laws under the Muslim Code of personal laws. These are their specific and specialized courts and they involve judges who are trained in Sharia law and this would be limited only to specific jurisdictions. The S&DGN variant is a special appellate collegial trial court established by presidential decree 1486. It is equal in rank to the court of appeals and is considered a third level court. The S&DGN variant's jurisdiction is over cases involving graft and corruption and other offenses committed by public officers and employees, including those in government-owned and controlled corporations. It is stationed in Manela. The Court of Tax Appeals is a special court of limited jurisdiction. It has the authority to decide cases involving criminal violation and collection of revenues under the National Internal Revenue Code and Tariff and Customs Code. It also has jurisdiction over cases involving local and legal property taxes which used to be with the original trial court and the court of appeals. The Court of Tax Appeals also serves as a venue to expedite the disposition of tax evasion cases to increase revenues for government to fund social services, food, oil, education and infrastructure subsidies.