MIDAS TOUCH. RTC Executive Judge Soliver C. Peras (left) accompanies Supreme Court Administrator Midas Marquez (right) who inspected the Qimonda IT Center, which temporarily houses the courthouses in Cebu after the Palace of Justice in the Capitol was badly damaged by the October 2013 earthquake. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether to renovate or retrofit the Palace of Justice which was badly damaged by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in October last year.
Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, who inspected the Qimonda IT Center yesterday, said looking for another place to construct a permanent courthouse is also one of the options.
“It’s either we construct a new building near the Capitol or at the SC’s property at the South Road Properties,” he said.
Marquez was referring to the lot donated by the Cebu City government to the Court of Appeals.
We don’t have definite plans yet. But there are a lot of options. One of which is constructing a judicial complex which will house the trial courts and the CA at the SRP,” he said.
While waiting for a decision, Marquez said they can extend the contract to extend the stay of the Cebu City courts at Qimonda. He said Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is expected to meet with Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III to discuss the fate of the Palace of Justice.
Davide earlier expressed the province’s desire to take over the Palace of Justice which has been declared “unfit for occupancy” by the Office of the Building Official to the damage caused by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake last Oct. 15, 2013.
He’s offering the province-owned lot at the Department of Agriculture for the judiciary to build its new building there.
Marquez also promised that the different courts will soon get their respective ceiling fans from the Supreme Court (SC) to address the problem of humidity. Marquez came to Cebu to speak on the “Structural Integrity of Court Houses” upon the invitation of the University of Cebu’s legal ethics law students.
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