Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Malilong: New court branches in Talisay City By Frank Malilong Jr. The Other Side
THE week before last Christmas a jubilant Eddie Gullas called me up, sounding like an excited young boy who had just received his first Christmas gift. It turned out that in fact, he---no, make that the entire city of Talisay---did get an early Christmas gift from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
A team of engineers and lawyers from the DOJ had just inspected the construction site of the proposed Talisay Hall of Justice and the Cebu first district congressman, who was my law partner before he went back to politics, said that they were so impressed by what they saw that they promised to recommend the immediate release of the funds to complete the project.
Estimated to cost P40 million, a portion of which came from the Supreme Court during the term of Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and the congressman’s pork barrel, the building is designed to accommodate two regional trial courts, two municipal trial courts, the prosecutors’ office, the public attorney’s office and their staff.
When I reminded him that Talisay has, at present, only one court, Eddiegul said he has already filed a bill for the creation of two RTC branches and an additional MTCC branch in the young city. He said that the House has approved the bill on third reading and that he was optimistic that the Senate will follow suit.
Yesterday, Gullas announced the approval of his bill, which has since been merged with other measures creating new court branches in other parts of the country, by the Senate. Both houses, he said, are expected to ratify the bicameral conference committee report on the consolidated bill.
A press statement from his office said Gullas was confident that the new court branches would advance the administration of justice not just in his district but also in Cebu City. The dockets of the Cebu city courts will be decongested and litigants from the first district would no longer have to make costly and tiresome travels to Cebu City to attend court proceedings, Gullas said.
Incidentally, the three new branches in Talisay are the only ones allotted to Cebu out of the 16 new courts that Congress approved. The rest are in Antipolo City, Paranaque and Tacloban.
I am surprised that Danao City did not get an additional RTC branch. The existing one (Branch 25) hears cases coming not only from the city but also from the surrounding towns, including the entire Camotes island. It has, I think, one of the heaviest case loads: the average daily schedule of cases is written on at least five pages of long-sized bond paper. Rep. Red Durano and his brother, Tourism Secretary Ace should do something about this.
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I received a text message from Cebu City Councilor Jack Jakosalem saying that, in fact, Mike Defensor has been in Cebu during at least three previous Sinulog festivals including last year’s. I stand corrected. I really did not know about his previous visits until Jack told me. I’m sure neither did many others.
Apparently, Defensor chose to be inconspicuous during the three previous Sinulog celebrations, a luxury that a Senate wannabe can no longer afford.
