Supreme Court decisions, visualized

ery few things are known about the Philippines' Supreme Court, the country's top court, even for those observing it. But when the court does communicate to the outside world, it does so in writing.

Since 1996, the earliest data available on the Supreme Court website, the court has handed down over 35,000 penned decisions across its divisions and the en banc.

The tally only includes penned decisions and resolutions or those with a ponente. It does not cover minute resolutions, which also number to thousands and pass judgment in cases. These resolutions are typically shorter however, do not indicate a ponente, and are only signed by the clerk of court.

When the court makes a ruling, they become part of the law of land. Rulings are handed by votes among the 15 justices that make up the en banc (or the full court) or a smaller set of justices in a court division. Whether a case is decided upon by the en banc or a division depends on where the case was raffled off by the time it was filed.

The full court has tackled more cases in recent years

Number of promulgated penned decisions and resolutions by the Supreme Court en banc

140 penned decisions/resolutions

120

100

As of Aug. 30

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

140 penned decisions/resolutions

As of

Aug. 30

120

100

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

Note: Latest decision uploaded to the Supreme Court website as of August 30, 2023.
Source: Author's analysis of decisions and resolutions uploaded to the Supreme Court website

Majority rules, and among the majority, a justice is designated as member-in-charge of cases. The member-in-charge writes a draft of the decision which is then voted upon by the court. If the draft secures the vote, the member-in-charge becomes the ponente or the writer of the majority decision. If not, that draft becomes a dissenting opinion and another justice becomes the ponente.

For the past decade ending 2023, court data showed that the en banc has been deciding on an increasing number of cases every year.

From 31 penned decisions and resolutions by the en banc in 2013, the number rose to 42 in 2015 and 80 in 2019. When the pandemic struck, the full court penned 140 decisions and resolutions each in 2020 and 2021, data showed. As of August 2023, the number was at 67.

These decisions are made by various sets of justices across time because under the Constitution, justices only serve until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70, and their vacated positions are mandated filled within 90 days.

Once a justice retires, the president appoints a replacement from a list submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council, the constitutional body tasked to screen judicial applicants. A new justice entering the Supreme Court means a new composition of the en banc but also commonly triggers changes on the members of the court's divisions, internal Supreme Court rules suggest.

The current Supreme Court has been in place since May 18, 2022 when Maria Filomena Singh was appointed. Data showed most decisions by the present 15 justices were written per curiam, which means "by the court." In these cases, the Supreme Court as a body is designated as ponente. Among individual justices, Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda had the most ponencia.

Who wrote the most number of en banc decisions of this court?

Decisions and resolutions written by the en banc of the current set of justices

Per curiam

(“by the court”)

32 decisions

Zalameda

Hernando

J. Lopez

Rosario

Gesmundo

Inting

Leonen

Gaerlan

M. Lopez

Kho

Dimaampao

Caguioa

Singh

Lazaro-Javier

Per curiam

(“by the court”)

32 decisions

Zalameda

Hernando

J. Lopez

Rosario

Gesmundo

Inting

Leonen

Gaerlan

M. Lopez

Kho

Dimaampao

Caguioa

Singh

Lazaro-Javier

Note: Latest decision and resolution as of Aug. 30, 2023 and fetched Dec. 31, 2023. Data excludes minute resolutions and only includes those rendered by the full court from May 18, 2022 when Maria Filomena Singh, the latest justice appointed, was named to the court.
Source: Author's analysis of Supreme Court decisions

However, it is difficult to draw conclusions from these numbers, which also do not reflect efficiency in disposing of cases. Case backlogs are an enduring problem in the broader judiciary, and the Supreme Court has made efforts to speed up the resolution of cases, both within its own backyard and in lower courts where it exercises administrative powers.

By tenure, the longest sitting justice to date is Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, who was appointed by the late president Benigno Aquino III, in November 2012. That makes Leonen the ponente of over 800 decisions in court for the past decade, the most among sitting justices, according to court data.

Controlling for the number of months they have occupied their chambers so far, Leonen places third behind Associate Justices Henri Jean Paul Inting and Ramon Paul Hernando on the average number of penned decisions promulgated every month, our analysis showed.

On average, the justices wrote about four decisions a month, data showed.

Nearly four penned decisions, resolutions from justices every month

Average number of promulgated penned decisions and resolutions from the start of term of each justice

Average

3.8 decisions/resolutions

Inting

Hernando

Leonen

Caguioa

Lazaro-Javier

J. Lopez

Gesmundo

Gaerlan

M. Lopez

Zalameda

Kho

Singh

Dimaampao

Rosario

Marquez

Average

3.8 decisions/resolutions

Inting

Hernando

Leonen

Caguioa

Lazaro-Javier

J. Lopez

Gesmundo

Gaerlan

M. Lopez

Zalameda

Kho

Singh

Dimaampao

Rosario

Marquez

Note: Latest data as of Aug. 30, 2023 and fetched Dec. 31, 2023. Data excludes minute resolutions and per curiam decisions and resolutions.
Source: Author's analysis of Supreme Court decisions

Source

Supreme Court of the Philippines

Notes

Decisions and resolutions were collected from the Supreme Court website. A repository for the project can be found here.

This is a personal project by Prinz Magtulis. Views and opinions expressed here are of the author alone. This project, other information and the author's portfolio are available on his personal website.