Supreme Court Assistant Court Administrator and Public Information Office chief Brian Keith Hosaka has been appointed as Commissioner of the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
Hosaka, who served as PIO chief and SC spokesperson under three Chief Justices — retired Chief Justices Lucas P. Bersamin, Diosdado M. Peralta, and the current Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, was instrumental in ushering several initiatives that have further enhanced the dissemination of information about the Court and its activities, thus bringing the Courts closer to the public.
chief Brian Keith Hosaka
During the time of then Chief Justice and now Executive Secretary Bersamin, the PIO, in March 2019, launched the new and improved Supreme Court website, through which the SC electronic library (SC eLibrary) was made more accessible. This launch is significant because the SC e-Library, after 15 years of its existence, was finally made open to the public and for free. Prior to this, the SC e-Library which houses a database of all Supreme Court Decisions since 1901, was available only to selected officials and lawyers in the Judiciary.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 during the term of then Chief Justice Peralta, the PIO under Hosaka saw the need to make changes in the Supreme Court website interface to include a section on COVID-19-related Court issuances so that court users could be guided and updated accordingly. A page in the SC Website was also created in order to advice the public of all court lockdowns and closures throughout the country. It was during this time that Hosaka ordered the full utilization of the official SC Twitter account as a fast and efficient conduit of information relative to the courts. As a result, the number of followers of the SC Twitter account saw a dramatic increase from around 42,000 followers in 2019 to more than 185,000 followers today.
Under Chief Justice Gesmundo, the PIO unveiled just last March the 2023 Supreme Court Website which further improved the utility and intuitiveness of the existing website. Main changes in the 2023 Supreme Court Website were made on its design, functionality, and content.
It was under the supervision of Hosaka that the PIO started its in-house production of short video presentations of Court events and activities, which were uploaded and made available to the public in its official Twitter account and YouTube channel, and of short infomercials which guide the public on the process of posting bail and on the use of the Court Locator feature of the 2023 Supreme Court Website. Recently, the PIO has also branched into the in-house production of podcasts featuring news and information about the Philippine Judiciary.
These PIO initiatives, which were mostly the brainchildren of Hosaka, are consistent with the Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI)’s target outcomes of efficiency, innovation, and access. Chief Justice Gesmundo, in several of his speaking engagements, has underscored the importance of the SPJI in reinvigorating and retooling the judicial system, and of the need to embrace technology in the judicial processes. The reskilling and retooling of judicial personnel, the Chief Justice stressed, is a must as the Court transitions to automated and more advanced processes.
Hosaka did exactly that and further capacitated the PIO staff by hiring videographers and other creatives for the conceptualization and production of infomercials, animation videos, and podcasts, among others. This was done so that the Supreme Court, which is considered a traditional institution, would be able to evolve and keep up with the times when digital media has become one of the sources of timely and valuable information.
Hosaka studied in the Ateneo de Manila University from elementary to law school, where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree in 1998. After passing the 1998 Bar Examinations, Hosaka worked as law clerk in the Supreme Court, in the office of then Senior Associate Justice Josue N. Bellosillo.
Prior to his designation as PIO Chief, he was a founding partner of the Paner Hosaka & Ypil Attorneys-at-Law. He also once served as Deputy General Counsel of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.