Tagaytay City Rep. Aniela Bianca Tolentino on Sunday lauded the decision of the House Committee on Justice for acting immediately on pending bills proposing new Court of Appeals (CA) divisions, saying this will complement the rise in the number of lower courts in the country.
The justice panel has taken cognizance of the urgency of putting up more CA divisions to be located in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur and Davao City as lawmakers noted the continued rise in cases requiring action from the appellate court, she said.
Tolentino authored House Bill 4033, proposing the appointment of new CA justices or an increase in appellate court magistrates from the current 69 to 78.
“When the number of Court of Appeals stations was increased in 1996, the population of the Philippines was about 71 million and the number of CA justices was set at 69, with CA stations in Manila, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro,” she said.
She stressed that with the country’s population ballooning to over 117 million, the number of CA justices must also increase to help guarantee faster dispensation of justice.
“It is high time that we increase the number of justices to make sure that litigants from northern and southern part of the Philippines can appeal their cases more conveniently,” she said.
Under the bill, the First to 17th Divisions of the CA would be located in Manila, the 18th to 20th Divisions in Cebu, the 21st to 23rd in Cagayan de Oro City, 24th Division in 24th, and the 25th and 26th Division would be placed in Davao City.
The measure also provides that the First and Second Judicial Regions w appeal before the CA Vigan; Third, Fourth and Fifth Judicial Regions to CA Manila; Sixth, Seventh, Eight Judicial Regions to CA Cebu; Ninth and Tenth Judicial Regions to Cagayan de Oro CA and Eleventh and Twelfth Judicial Regions to CA Davao.
Economic progress, hike in population and growth of businesses that the country has experienced for the past years brought the need for a faster disposition of judicial cases, especially in the appellate level, Tolentino noted. Rio N. Araja