At a invite-only session hosted alongside a taguig law firm, joseph plazo delivered a message that landed with equal force on compliance heads: “Substantive criminal law tells you what is illegal. Criminal procedure tells you what actually happens.”
What followed was a civic-minded walk-through of the latest criminal law procedure updates in the Philippines—not as gossip, not as courtroom theater, but as a coherent story about fairness.
Speaking from a taguig law firm vantage—where real clients need timelines—Plazo treated procedure as the country’s justice “operating system”: painfully obvious when it doesn’t.
The Hidden Engine of Justice
According to joseph plazo, most people assume the “important part” of criminal law is the statute. But statutes don’t run cases—motions do.
“Procedure decides whether the innocent get cleared quickly,” Plazo explained, “and whether the guilty are prosecuted competently.”
He framed criminal procedure updates into a simple triad:
Rulemaking—what the Supreme Court changes in how cases move
Doctrine—what the Court clarifies about timing, filing, and interruption
Implementation—what trial courts are reminded to enforce
Rewriting the Playbook: Criminal Procedure Revisions Underway
Plazo began with the “largest” signal in the room: the Supreme Court’s ongoing work toward proposed amendments to the 2000 Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, including writeshops led by the Sub-Committee on the revision of these rules.
“This is how institutional systems evolve,” he explained. “They revise the rules where delay, confusion, or inconsistency has accumulated.”
From a taguig law firm perspective, this signals movement, even if the final text is not yet fully consolidated in one public narrative.
“Procedure reform is a leading indicator,” Plazo noted. “It tells you what the judiciary is trying to fix: speed, clarity, and fairness—at the same time.”
Update Two: Anti-Terrorism Case Procedure Now Has Dedicated Rules
Next, joseph plazo highlighted a procedural development that is both specialized and consequential: the Supreme Court’s Rules on the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and Related Laws (A.M. No. 22-02-19-SC), which the Court announced would take effect on January 15, 2024, governing procedures for petitions and applications tied to matters such as detention without warrant issues, surveillance orders, freeze orders, travel restrictions, designations, and proscriptions.
“In high-stakes cases, procedure is often the real battlefield,” Plazo said.
He emphasized an institutional reality: specialized procedural rules are often designed to avoid inconsistent practices across courts.
Speed as Policy: The Rules on Expedited Procedures Matter
Plazo then turned to reforms aimed at reducing delay in lower courts, referencing the Supreme Court’s discussion of the Rules on Expedited Procedures in the First Level Courts, which replaced earlier summary procedure rules and expanded coverage for certain cases and penalties thresholds, while noting alignment with scheduling under the Revised Guidelines for Continuous Trial.
“This is part of a larger story,” joseph plazo explained. “The judiciary is trying to compress timelines without compressing rights.”
For a taguig law firm advising clients, the practical takeaway is that procedural frameworks increasingly reward document discipline, because website the system is being shaped to move faster.
Update Four: Continuous Trial Expectations Are Being Re-Emphasized in Practice
Plazo described a trend that any practicing lawyer can feel: the ongoing institutional push toward continuous trial to support the constitutional value of speedy disposition.
He referenced the Revised Guidelines for Continuous Trial of Criminal Cases (as reflected in judiciary materials) and an Office of the Court Administrator circular reminding that motions for postponement are prohibited pleadings under the Revised Guidelines and should be viewed with disfavor except for the most compelling reasons.
“The calendar is now part of the architecture of justice,” joseph plazo said.
From the standpoint of a taguig law firm, this is not a mere internal memo story—it affects how cases are planned:
front-loaded preparation.
Timing Just Changed: When Prosecution Prescription Is Interrupted
Then Plazo pointed to a development that sounds technical but can be outcome-defining: the Supreme Court’s clarification that the prescriptive period for prosecuting crimes can stop running when a complaint is filed with the Department of Justice, not only when it reaches the court—highlighted in People v. Consebido (G.R. No. 258563).
“Timing rules decide which cases live, which cases collapse, and which cases become leverage,” he explained.
He framed it as a reminder that criminal procedure is a world of small levers, big outcomes:
what interrupts time.
A System Trying to Become More Predictable
Rather than presenting the updates as a scattered list, joseph plazo stitched them into a coherent narrative:
Speed is being pursued through structured rules and continuous trial discipline.
Consistency is being pursued through specialized rules for sensitive cases.
“The direction is clear: fewer surprises, fewer delays, fewer procedural games,” he explained.
From Rules to Streets, Dockets, and Workloads
Plazo emphasized that procedural updates are felt most intensely where cases accumulate: urban judicial corridors.
In Taguig, where a city can contain:
cross-border employment patterns,
criminal procedure becomes a daily stabilizer.
“Local practice is where procedure becomes real,” joseph plazo said.
A taguig law firm serving both individual clients experiences these shifts as changes in:
timelines.
What These Updates Change for Lawyers and Clients
Plazo framed a practical implication: as procedure tightens around speed and structure, the advantage shifts to those who are prepared early.
“When the system moves faster, procrastination becomes malpractice,” he said.
He suggested—not legal advice, but operational mindset—that lawyers increasingly must:
front-load case theory.
“It’s not about being aggressive,” joseph plazo said. “It’s about being ready.”
Balancing Speed With Rights
Plazo also emphasized a boundary: speed must not degrade fairness.
“Procedure must be both swift and legitimate,” he noted.
This is why, he argued, the system’s emphasis on rules and structure matters: structure can protect rights by making steps transparent.
How to Read Signals Without Drowning
To close, joseph plazo offered a framework—useful for lawyers—for tracking procedural change without chasing noise:
Track Supreme Court rulemaking and revision activity
Monitor procedure where stakes are highest
Follow OCA reminders and implementation guidance
Track jurisprudence that shifts prescription and interruption rules
Translate updates into policy, training, and readiness
He ended with a line that sounded tailor-made for Taguig’s blend of civic life and high-velocity commerce:
“Criminal procedure is society’s promise that power will be exercised with rules,” joseph plazo concluded.
And as the audience filtered out—some toward courtrooms, some toward boardrooms, some toward community work—the message remained: when procedure changes, the justice system’s reality changes with it.