Lack of judges blamed for pending cases

MANILA, Philippines - At least 4,389 cases filed before the eight branches of the regional trial court (RTC) in Cebu City are waiting to be resolved.

The Speedy Trial Act of 1998 requires all judges to resolve cases within 180 days or six months after they are filed.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City chapter said the lack of judges in some RTC branches is just one of the many factors that delay the resolution of the cases.

In four cities of Cebu, there were at least eight RTCs and MTCs branches that have no presiding judges.

To address this problem, the IBP-Cebu City chapter passed a resolution asking President Aquino, Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and the Judicial Bar and Council to consider as urgent the filling the vacancies.

“While some court vacancies are being temporarily assigned with pairing and assisting presiding judges, the same do not effectively solve the problem since those temporarily designated judges would usually dispose only pending incidents,” the IBP said.

The IBP said among the vacant courts are Branches 55 and 28 in Mandaue City, and Branches 5 and 24 in Cebu City.

No judges were appointed for the four RTC branches in the cities of Naga and Carcar since their creation last Dec. 6.

Judges of these courts were retired, suspended or dismissed from service. The pending cases in these “courts without judges” are handled by substitute judges, who also have to attend to hundreds of cases in their own courtrooms.

Earlier, the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) announced vacancies for judges in the Visayas courts, including Cebu City.

At least 27 judges will be needed to fill the seats in Eastern, Central and Western Visayas courts, the JBC said.

Despite the lack of judges in various courts, President Aquino on May 15 signed at least 10 new laws creating additional RTC branches in the provinces.