Cebu City courts to assist Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu courts

CEBU, Philippines - Six Cebu City Regional Trial Courts will be assisting trial courts in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu in handling civil cases.

This was according to Supreme Court administrator Midas Marquez, who visited the Qimonda IT Center at the North Reclamation Area yesterday where Cebu City courts have been transferred.

Marquez said that they have already recommended that some Cebu City courts be designated as assisting courts to Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City pending the organization of the newly created courts in the said cities.

“We are hoping that February 1, all newly filed civil cases in Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City after their raffle there will be heard in RTC Cebu City,” he said, adding there were three newly created courts, both in Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City.

Marquez said he has spoken with RTC Executive Judge Soliver Peras about the matter and will choose from the Cebu City courts that have manageable case loads to assist Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City courts.

The SC created three additional courts due to lack of courts in the said cities to handle cases and while they will be organizing the said courts, the cases to be raffled to the said branches will be heard in RTC Cebu City.

Marquez said some RTC branches in Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City handle more than 1,000 civil cases each while some branches in Cebu City have only around 300 to 400 civil cases.

The newly created courts have not yet been funded though, according to Marquez, which is why they cannot organize them yet.

But when this will be organized, Marquez said it is important to get the help of the Cebu City RTC so that there will be no backlog of cases in Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City.

Marquez visited the Cebu City courts yesterday at the Qimonda building to inspect the transfer of the RTC employees and judges to the air-conditioned rooms in the third floor from the ground and second floors of the building.

He added they are also expediting the transfer of the MTCC courts to the fourth floor. The MTCC staff and judges are still at the ground floor while the fourth floor is being renovated.

Marquez, likewise, spoke with Peras on the problem of vacancies in the RTC after Judge Simeon Dumdum, Jr. of RTC Branch 7; Judge Silvestre Maamo of RTC Branch 17; Judge Eric Menchavez of RTC Branch 21; and Judge Enriqueta Belarmino of RTC Branch 57 retired from the service last December 31.

He added they will be assigning acting presiding judges to the said branches.

Meanwhile, Lapu-Lapu City courts will become a pilot area for the automated hearings system in the Visayas, according to Marquez.

Helen Perez-Macasaet of IC Consulting Services-Performance and Leadership Culture Transformation, the contractor of the project, assured that their system will not be hacked since their operations are of international standard. — (FREEMAN)