President Benigno S. Aquino III has signed into law a legislation creating additional branches of regional trial court (RTC) in Laguna in a bid to unclog court dockets in the province and speed up the dispensation of justice, Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. announced on Friday.
According to Ochoa, the President signed on April 17, 2012 Republic Act No. 10162 to amend Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, otherwise known as the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980, and address the lack of RTCs in Laguna that impedes the resolution of cases.
There is no RTC in Sta. Rosa City in Laguna, and litigants have to travel to adjacent Biñan City and Cabuyao municipality in order to attend criminal, civil and special proceeding cases.
“There is a necessity for the establishment of the additional RTCs in Laguna, particularly in Sta. Rosa City, in order to free from pending cases the dockets of existing RTC branches in Laguna. Eventually, the addition of two more branches will increase the rate of resolved cases,” Ochoa explained.
RA 10162 originated from the House of Representatives under House Bill No. 4488, which tasks the Supreme Court to assign the branch number of the newly-created RTC branches in the Fourth Judicial Region.
It also tasks the chief justice and the Secretary of the Department of Justice to immediately include in the Supreme Court’s program the operationalization of the additional RTC branches. Under the new law, funding for this will be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
RA 10162 takes effect 15 days following its complete publication in the Official Gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation. ###
