Thirty-two second-level courts will join an expanded pilot initiative aimed at improving judicial efficiency and access to court services through performance assessments and feedback from court users and personnel.

The Supreme Court (SC) introduced the participating courts during the September 11 kickoff of the expanded High-Performance Courts Initiative (HPC Initiative) in Angeles City, Pampanga, bringing total participation to 73 courts, comprising 41 first-level and 32 second-level courts, under the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022–2027.

Supported by the European Union Governance in Justice Programme (EU-GOJUST), the expanded pilot will begin implementation in second-level courts on November 3, 2026, initially focusing on online court user satisfaction surveys administered through QR codes.

The initiative was initially tested in eight first-level courts in 2025 before expanding to 41 first-level courts in August 2026, with findings from the initial implementation informing revisions to its performance assessment framework.

Under the revised Performance Development Framework 2.0, participating courts will be assessed across three areas: internal processes, external stakeholder satisfaction, and internal stakeholder satisfaction.

Atty. Urania P. Lindo of the Office of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa explained that the revised framework excludes decision-making quality as a separate assessment component while the SC Committee on High-Performance Courts studies a more accurate method of measuring it.

For internal processes, courts will be assessed through case disposition rate, case clearance rate, and case duration, which measure the percentage of cases resolved, the ratio of resolved to filed cases, and average case processing time, respectively.

External stakeholder satisfaction surveys will gather feedback from litigants, lawyers, witnesses, and other court users on access to information, assistance, efficiency, facilities, technology use, and accessibility for vulnerable individuals and those with special needs.

Internal stakeholder satisfaction surveys will assess court personnel’s experiences with workload management, workplace conditions, communication, professional development, compensation, and overall job satisfaction.

To support these assessments, the initiative will introduce the HPC Calculator, HPC Dashboard, HPC Companion, mentorship and coaching, and data literacy training to help courts analyze performance results, identify operational problems, and determine appropriate interventions.

EU-GOJUST consultant Dr. Marshall N. Valencia cautioned that performance scores may not fully reflect complex cases, staffing shortages, and other operational constraints, emphasizing that “responsible interpretation requires much more than a number.”

Associate Justice Caguioa, chairperson of the SC Committee on High-Performance Courts, clarified that the initiative is not intended to punish or rank courts but to improve judicial services throughout litigation, stressing that accessibility is essential to public trust in the justice system.

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