THE case disposition rates in first- and second-level courts have been increasing from 2021 to 2023, based on data from the Office of the Court Administrator.

For first-level courts, the disposition rate went up from 53 percent in 2021, to 60 percent in 2022 and 61 percent in 2023.

For second-level courts, the rate rose to 42 percent in 2023 from 39 percent in 2022 and 32 percent in 2021.

The disposition rate is computed by dividing the total of decided, resolved, and archived cases by the number of pending and newly filed cases, multiplied by 100.

Court Administrator Raul Villanueva commended the Philippine Association of Court Employees (PACE) for its role in the faster resolution of cases in the lower courts.

PACE is the umbrella association of first- and second-level court employees in the Judiciary.

Prosecutors at the Department of Justice (DoJ) also rated highly in the higher number of resolved complaints in 2023 compared to previous years.

The Office of the Secretary of Justice Prosecution Service (OSJPS) posted an 89.31 percent rate of case disposition for 2023, up from the 85.05 percent in 2022 and a notch higher from the 53.18 percent in 2021.

Case disposition is the number of resolved complaints filed before the DoJ that underwent preliminary investigation which determines if the case should be filed in court.

The number of pending cases has also drastically dropped, from 1,330 cases in 2019 to 465 cases in 2023.

The OSJPS was able to maintain in 2023 a "very satisfactory" adjectival rating, maintaining the same rating from the previous year.