The Supreme Court is studying the possibility of building a judicial complex at the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City, Supreme Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said.
“A study is being conducted to house all courts in Cebu City at the SRP. The committee would want to know what’s needed and how much resources we need for that,” he told reporters in Cebu last Friday.
At present judges and court employees in Cebu City occupy the Qimonda I.T. Center at the North Reclamation Area after the Palace of Justice was badly damaged by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in October last year.
A month from now, Marquez said all trial courts in Cebu City will be relocated from the ground and second floors of Qimonda to the third and fourth floors.
Cebu City judges want to move back to the Palace of Justice where there’s more space and better facilities but Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III already said the province plans to occupy the building which is built on a province-owned lot. He offered another lot at the Department of Agriculture for the judiciary to build its new complex.
But Marquez said the SC wants to construct the trial courts on a lot that was allocated for the Court of Appeal’s building. Construction of the appellate court building at the SRP is suspended while the SC is studying the possibility of housing all trial courts in the area.