TO BATTLE corruption, the declining public trust in the judiciary branch must be addressed, a Supreme Court justice said during the 7th Chief Justice Andres Narvasa Lecture on Feb. 21.
Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh said the judiciary’s most pressing challenge was not case delays or docket congestion.
“Our biggest problem is public perception. That’s the root of all our problems,” she said. “Our history has taught us that it is not enough that the judiciary is doing the right things; the public must also know that it is doing the right things.”
Citing a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, Singh said 44% of respondents identified integrity issues with court personnel.
In 2025, the Philippines scored 32 out of 100 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), ranking 120th out of 182 countries worldwide.
The magistrate also said the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index had placed the Philippines near the bottom in East Asia and the Pacific at 13th out of 15.
Despite these challenges, Singh expressed optimism about the judiciary’s direction in restoring public trust.
“The vision of a judiciary that truly carries the Filipino people over the troubled waters of corruption and delivers them safely to the shore of equal justice is still a work in progress,” she said.
“With steady ethical leadership, unwavering commitment, and the collective efforts of all stakeholders, that vision is increasingly within reach,” Singh added.
The judiciary is shifting its “battle cry” from “delivering justice in real-time” to gaining back public trust, she said.
“Articulating integrity is not enough. Talking about it is not enough. The Supreme Court rule system has to enforce it,” she said.
Singh earned her Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law with Second Honors distinction, and her Master of Laws in International Legal Studies at the Washington College of Law.
She became associate justice of the Court of Appeals in 2014 and has been serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court since 2022.
Singh teaches at several law schools, including Ateneo de Manila University College of Law, the University of the Philippines College of Law, and the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law.
The lecture, titled “The Supreme Court’s Role in Combating Corruption and Bridging Access to Justice,” was held at the Dr. Robert C. Sy Grand Ballroom of the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building.
It was organized by the UST Faculty of Civil Law and UST Law Review, in partnership with the UST Graduate School of Law and UST Law Journal.
After the lecture, the UST Law Review unveiled a commemorative marker for its 75th anniversary, led by Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina and Graduate School of Law Dean Jacqueline Lopez-Kaw.
The Narvasa Lecture Series honors Chief Justice Andres Narvasa, the UST Law Review founding editor in chief who placed second in the 1951 Bar Examinations. With reports from Amador Denzel M. Teston
