COURT TRANSFER. Court employes bring office equipment and court records to the Qimonda IT Center in the North Reclamation Area, near Pier 5.
Alone and limping with his crutches, an elderly man traveled from Talisay City to the Palace of Justice in Cebu City to attend a hearing last Thursday, only to find out that court proceedings were cancelled.
When he arrived, court employees were busy transferring their things to the Qimonda IT Center near Pier 5 the North Reclamation Area which will serve as the temporary courthouse of Cebu City starting March 17.
The conroversial transfer plan has been in the news for months after the October earthquake, but many ordinary citizens, like the handicapped man who showed up yesterday didn’t know it was already a reality or where to go.
The commercial building is across the Sugbutel Bed and Bath hotel.
Jeepneys that pass that way include route 12-J and 12-L.
“Naglagot ko kay wala gyud mi pahibaw-a nga wala diay hearing. Ang akong nadunggan sa radyo, dili sila mamalhin sa Qimonda, unya diay mobalhin man sila,” he told Cebu Daily News.
(It is so upsetting that they never informed us the hearings were cancelled. I heard radio reports saying that they are not transferring to Qimonda, but here they are, moving out.)
He said the officials were “inconsiderate.”
Meanwhile, a 24-year-old woman traveled from Argao town in southern Cebu to get a documentary stamp from the court for employment purposes. She was surpised to be directed to go Qimonda where the office tasked to issue a documentary stamp is already located.
“Wala koy idea nga nibalhin na diay sila. Ang guard na ang nisulti nako,” she said. (I didn’t know they moved until the guard told me.)
Renante Pique, the father of the slain six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique, also asked where Qimonda is.
They have a hearing on the kidnap and murder case Monday.
Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno ordered judges and court employees in Cebu City to transfer to Qimonda before March 17.
The Palace of Justice was deemed “unfit for occupancy” because of damage from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake last Oct. 15, 2013.