“(4) Despite the expiration of the applicable mandatory period, the court, without prejudice to such responsibility as may have been incurred in consequence thereof, shall decide or resolve the case or matter submitted thereto for determination, without further delay.” 5. Include “age of caseloads” in the annual reports of the Supreme Court and of the Court of Appeals, similar to what the NLRC is reporting regularly. 6. Study the feasibility of establishing an online CHR-NGO platform for the reporting and monitoring of OFW cases. OFWs can report via the online CHR-NGO platform their individual cases, starting at the SEnA stage. The online CHR-NGO platform can then monitor: (a) the progress of the case as it goes through the Labor Arbiter, NLRC, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court; (b) the result of cases resolved through settlement either through the SEnA process or through mediation/conciliation. 7. OFW organizations and migrants rights advocacy groups should continue to engage the NLRC and the Judiciary, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals in particular, towards the adoption of policies and measures to strengthen institutional capacities to absorb an expanding caseload and to promote the right to access to justice and the right to speedy disposition of cases of OFWs. 8. Conduct studies on how the judiciary can further augment its institutional capacities for speedy disposition of cases. One of the key findings of this study is that the NLRC has generally been efficient in the resolution of cases, and the delays occur at the level of the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. Considering further that this study has established that OFW cases constitute less than 1% of the annual caseload of the Supreme Court, the unreasonable length of time in resolving OFW cases is symptomatic of the larger problem of court inefficiency that needs to be addressed for the benefit of all. 4.2 Debt Bondage Debt bondage remains one of the most prevalent forms of modern slavery in all regions of the world despite being banned in international law and most domestic jurisdictions.52 The report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery to the Human Rights Council,53 drew attention to women migrant domestic workers who are led into accepting a seemingly legitimate job offer but end up in slavery or in domestic servitude, which is a slavery-like practice. This can result in debt bondage, which occurs for instance where excessive recruitment fees are charged by agents. 52 53 United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner, Geneva. “Debt bondage remains the most prevalent form of forced labour worldwide – New UN report,” 15 September 2016. https://ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?LangID=E&NewsID=20504 Q&A with Urmila Bhoola, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. Retrieved from https://16dayscampaign.org/2019/02/08/qa-with-urmila-bhoola-special-rapporteur-oncontemporary-forms-of-slavery/ 28