To reaffirm the people's faith in the judiciary, there is a need to enhance the integrity and competence of justices, judges, court personnel and all other officers of the judiciary and quasi-judicial bodies by:
a) Weeding out the undesirables, both from the Bench and the Bar. To maintain public confidence in the competence and integrity of members of the judiciary, the government will intensify its efforts to weed out misfit and undesirable officials and personnel who fail to uphold the dignity and integrity of the legal profession;
b) Continuing the Court Cleansing Initiative. The continuance of the court cleansing initiative will further strengthen the integrity of the judiciary and hopefully achieve an ethical judiciary that is above suspicion as envisioned by the Supreme Court;
c) Strengthening the Integrity of the Judiciary and the Integrity Development Review. Besides adjudicating cases and promulgating rules, the Supreme Court also has the power of administrative supervision over all courts and their personnel, including the power to take disciplinary action against them when warranted. (CONST., Art. VIII, sec. 6). In 2009, it disciplined 66 Regional Trial Court judges; 27 Metropolitan Trial Court, Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Municipal Trial Court, and Municipal Circuit Trial Court judges; and 181 first and second-level court personnel. Nor has the Supreme Court spared the rod in its own ranks. In 2009 it administratively disciplined 19 SC employees and dropped three others from the roll for being absent without leave.
In an unprecedented and unanimous per curiam decision, the Supreme Court also imposed a PhP500,000 fine on a retired SC justice for grave misconduct for leaking a confidential internal document of the Court (AM No. 09-2-19-SC, In Re: Undated Letter of Mr. Louis C. Biraogo, February 24, 2009).
The SC has also disciplined 129 members of the Bar for various administrative offenses. In response to the pervasive drug menace, it has approved mandatory drug testing for all Judiciary employees as recommended by its Committee on Security (AM No. 09-3013-SC, Mandatory Drug Testing of All Supreme Court Employees, March 24, 2009. Information lifted from the 2009 Supreme Court Annual Report); and
d) Strictly implement agency-specific Codes of Conduct for law enforcers, prosecutors and judges. The specific administrative rules of conduct and behavior for various government agencies will be strictly enforced to maintain a competent workforce in government service.