LONDON — Justice isn’t just about what happens inside a courtroom or the laws written on paper; it’s about whether a person in need can actually reach the system designed to protect them.
This was the core message delivered by Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Margarita Gutierrez during a high-level forum in London. Speaking to an international audience, Gutierrez challenged the traditional, rigid definitions of legal systems, pushing for a more compassionate and accessible framework that she calls “justice beyond the courts.”
Gutierrez underscored a sobering reality: legal protections are essentially hollow if the most vulnerable members of society—particularly women and children—remain barred from accessing them due to poverty, geography, or lack of information.
“Justice is not measured only by the laws that we pass,” Gutierrez told the forum, “but by whether our systems actually work for the people who need them.”
To illustrate the human cost of systemic failure, she shared the harrowing story of “Anna,” a woman who spent 23 years in a Philippine prison for a murder conviction that was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court. The high court later ruled her liability was limited to a minor offense carrying a maximum 30-day sentence.
“Imagine, it was only 30 days, but she served 23 years,” Gutierrez said, pointing to the procedural barriers and lack of legal assistance that stole decades from a woman’s life.
The Undersecretary highlighted that the Philippines is actively working to dismantle these barriers. She pointed to initiatives like the DOJ Action Center and the Katarungan Caravan, which take legal services out of the city centers and directly into rural communities.
According to Gutierrez, these programs provided free legal aid and referrals to over 50,000 Filipinos since 2023. The goal is to ensure that justice does not depend on a person’s income or social connections.
Addressing fellow leaders, Gutierrez called for a shift in how leadership is perceived in the legal sector. She argued that true leadership shouldn’t be measured by titles or visibility, but by the strength of the institutions left behind.
“When we speak of ladies who lead, it should not simply be about visibility. It should be about standards,” she noted. “The true measure of leadership is the system that we leave behind.”
As the forum concluded, Gutierrez’s message remained clear: for justice to be real, it must be felt on the ground, long before—and far beyond—the strike of a judge’s gavel.