harassment or undue embarrassment; and (4) avoid waste of time. ….
(Child Witness Rule)
b.
In order to promote the utmost honesty in terms of testimonies offered by the
child witness, the Child Witness Rules aims “to create and maintain an
environment that will allow children to give reliable and complete evidence,
minimize trauma to children, encourage children to testify in legal proceedings,
and facilitate the ascertainment of truth.” (Sec. 2) It holds the presumption that
“every child is presumed to be qualified to be a witness” (Sec. 6), and the burden
falls upon the adverse party to rebut that presumption (Sec. 6.b).
training programmes on the right of access to justice for persons with
disabilities for judges, lawyers, prosecutors, police, social workers, language
and sign language interpreters, legal aid centres, other judicial and
administrative bodies intervening in judicial or quasi-judicial instances;
Since the signing of the Incheon Strategy in November 2013, The Department
of Justice (DOJ), in partnership with the National Council on Disability Affairs
(NCDA) has spearheaded “Disability Awareness and Sensitivity Workshops on
Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities”. The workshops were
participated mostly by public attorneys and prosecutors committed to support the
advocacy on “Make the Right Real for Persons with Disabilities” and ensure
protection of their right in accessing justice.9 Civil society organizations such as
the Autism Society Philippines (ASP) likewise implement similar activities hand
in hand with the National Council for Disability Affairs (NCDA).
c. education programmes on the right of access to justice for persons with
disabilities for law students as well as in schools of social work, sign language
interpretation, forensic science, psychiatry and psychology, among other relevant
faculties; and
d.
legal aid programmes, public and/or private, which include the right of
access to justice for persons with disabilities in their practices, including the
availability of support and liaison services for courts or other judicial or quasijudicial instances.
During the term of former Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, the DOJ’s
Action Center was established to ensure legal accessibility especially to
persons with disabilities.
9
Civil society organizations continue to exert efforts as regards the
dissemination information as well as the conduct of training and education
programs on the right to access of justice for persons with disabilities, however,
to date, such issue is yet to be widely popularized in educational institutions.
One of the responsibilities of the DOJ is the monitoring of prosecutors to
assess whether they are sensitized to the needs of persons with disabilities,
Disability Awareness and Sensitivity Workshop On Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities Held.
http://www.ncda.gov.ph/2014/08/disability-awareness-and-sensitivity-workshop-on-access-to-justice-forpersons-with-disabilities-held/ (last accessed on April 17, 2017)