By June S. Blanco
The light at the end of the tunnel on the clamor of judges, lawyers and litigants to house Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) currently spread across the province under one roof can now be seen.
This after the Department of Justice (DOJ) through its Hall of Justice Committee is now processing Gov. Erico Aumentado’s request for a 2nd Hall of Justice in Bohol.
Aumentado said the new building will be constructed on a 1,000-square meter provincial government-owned lot below the present Hall of Justice.
The two-storey building will replace the dilapidated building of RTC Branch 47. During the governor’s ocular inspection, Judge Suceso Arcamo reported that the building leaks. He expressed apprehension that his records might be destroyed when the rains come, not to mention the injuries his staff and litigants might incur when they scamper out of fear if they again see the snakes that have taken turns in converting his archives into a nesting place.
In a tracer letter to Chief Justice Reynato Puno dated Sept. 9, the governor leveraged a ready funding of P3 million to magnet P5 million from the Supreme Court for an P8 million building.
He attached to his letter a certification from Provincial Budget Officer Valeria Orig and Assistant Provincial Treasurer Primitiva Ontong that the amount is available as allocated under the non-office expenditures of Bohol ’s approved 2007 budget – and a vicinity map of the proposed site.
The documents are now with Supreme Court Administrator Christopher Lock and the Hall of Justice Committee.
Aumentado proposes the building to house six RTC salas – three in Tagbilaran City now housed in private buildings rented by the provincial government, and those in Loay, Carmen and Talibon towns.
When the project pushes through, the province will no longer need to rent private buildings. At the same time, it will free the spaces used by the out-of-town RTCs in favor of the lower courts, he pointed out.
In a resolution, all the presiding judges of Bohol ’s 10 RTCs headed by Executive Judge Fernando Fuentes III of Branch 49 supported the move. It will cut the travels of the out-of-town RTC judges to give them more time to study their cases and pen decisions.
Besides, lawyers prefer all the RTCs to be located in Tagbilaran City to enable them to appear as counsels in other cases heard in different salas on the same day.
At the same time, litigants will be able to cut on expenses as they no longer need to provide vehicles – usually taxis – or the equivalent tariff, for their lawyers – most of whom are based in Tagbilaran City or nearby towns.
“I trust for the speedy action on this matter by the Highest Tribunal of the land so we can provide justice to where justice is due,†Aumentado concluded his letter to Puno.
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