• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Two more branches of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCCs) will be created and stationed in Bacolod City.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act (RA) 12051, creating the two additional MTCC branches, and directed the Supreme Court to assign their respective numbers.
The chief justice of the SC, in coordination with the secretary of the Department of Justice, shall immediately include in the Court’s program the operationalization of the additional branches of the MTCC in Bacolod, states the new law signed Oct. 26 but made public Nov. 3.
The MTCC in the City of Bacolod will have nine branches. The funds for the implementation of RA 12051, including appropriations for salaries, benefits, and emoluments for judges and court personnel, court operations under maintenance and other operating expenses, and provisions for Halls of Justice or courtrooms to accommodate judges and court staff…shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, it added.
Bacolod Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya, who authored the initial House Bill (HB) 02918, as substituted by HB08255, said “the current position of the MTCCs in Bacolod highly demands an increase in the number of court branches that would aid in the speedy dispensation of justice”.
The completion rate in case handling was roughly less than three percent, not to mention the additional cases filed on a day-to-day basis, Gasataya said. “Such conditions remain and the cases stocked in file are to exceed the cases dismissed.”
“It is quite a disservice to the Filipino people when real-time impact upon the passing of judgment is delayed because of logistical judiciary inadequacies. The efficiency of judicial proceedings should be reevaluated, with special consideration to the number of cases submitted and the number of MTCCs,” he added. | CGC
