Drilon supports P500M budget for Justice Palace

Senate President Franklin Drillon (third from left) fields questions during a press conference at Cebu Country Club. With him from right is University of Cebu College of Law dean Baldomero Estenzo, Regional Commissioner Julie Renduque of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and Judge Jocelyn Uy Po of the Municipal Trial Circuit Courts. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

Senate President Frankiln Drilon said he would help press for funding to build a new Palace of Justice in Cebu City.

He said only half of the P1 billion needed for the project can be considered in next year’s national budget.

Drilon asked Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale to submit the funding request through a Provincial Board resolution so the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) can include it in the 2015 budget.

“Let us prepare everything simultaneously for the inclusion of P500 million for the construction of the Palace of Justice,” he said.

Drilon was in Cebu yesterday to address the graduation ceremony of the University of Cebu (UC),.
He also met with the school’s Bar passers, including Manuel Elijah Sarausad who ranked sixth in last year’s Bar exam

In a lunch gathering, Drilon said he will also ask the Supreme Court (SC) to decentralize the Bar exams so it can be conducted in the regions.

“Holding the Bar exams in Manila is not something written in stone. I can sponsor a (Senate) resolution, urging the Supreme Court to hold the Bar examinations in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” he told reporters at Cebu Country Club.

Rule 138, section 11 of the Rules of Court states that “examinations for admission to the Bar of the Philippines shall take place annually in the City of Manila.

Expenses

They shall be held in four days to be designated by the chairman of the committee on bar examiners.”

Two weeks ago, Supreme Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez described as “impossible” the proposal to hold the Bar exams outside Manila due to budget constraints.

Marquez also said the Supreme Court fears that there will be some leaks in the transport of test materials from Manila to the province.

But he said the High Court needs to study the calls by law school deans to decentralize the exams.
Law schools in Cebu City requested the High Court to decentralize the Bar exams and conduct the tests in other areas in the country because it would mean lesser travel and lodging expenses for examinees.

“Going to Manila is really disadvantageous for examinees from the provinces, not only financially but also emotionally and psychologically,” said UC College of Law Dean Baldomero Estenzo.

The Bar examinations have been held in Manila since 1903.

The bar examination is conducted in four Sundays of October at the University of Santo Tomas from the previous venue at De La Salle University, also in Manila.

Regarding funds for a new Palace of Justice, Drilon said it’s important to move fast before the budget is submitted (by the executive department to Congress) in July 2014.

Otherwise, “ then you have to wait for 2016. Remember, the 2015 national budget will be discussed in 2014,” he added.

Details about the project, including where to build the new Palace of Justice, has yet to be determined.

“We have until Jan. 1, 2015 to decide on it. But what is important is that there will be an appropriation by July 2014. We can decide on where it should be constructed etc, etc between now and Dec. 31,” Drilon said.

Drilon said construction can start next year, once half of the budget for the new courthouse will be released.

Takeover

He said the construction of Cebu City’s courthouse will take two years.

The Palace of Justice, which was named after the late Cebuano Chief Justice Marcelo Fernan, was deemed “unfit for occupancy” by the Office of the Building Official due to the damage caused by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake last Oct. 15, 2013.

Judges and court employees settled in tents outside the Palace of Justice for about five months before they transferred to Qimonda IT Center which served as Cebu City’s courthouse.

Davide earlier expressed the province’s desire to take over the Palace of Justice to accommodate other offices of the Capitol.

He is offering the province-owned lot at the Department of Agriculture for the judiciary to build its new building there.