Lawyers urge probe of Hall of Justice building
ILOILO CITY—Judges, past presidents of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and court employees in Iloilo are calling for an investigation of possible irregularities in the construction of the 20-year-old Chief Justice Q. Ramon Avanceña Hall of Justice.
Judge Globert Justalero said at least 10 of the 18 regional trial court (RTC) judges, including him, signed a resolution calling on the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct an investigation of the three-story building at a cost of P200 million.
The building was abandoned after it was declared unsafe for occupation following the magnitude-6.9 earthquake that hit parts of the Visayas on Feb. 6.
Reports
Justalero said the resolution was prompted by “many reports of [alleged] irregularities” in the construction of the building.
“There were visible cracks in my office even before the earthquake,” he said.
A report of a team from the Bureau of Design of the Department of Public Works and Highways that inspected the building in March showed that the building had structural defects validating the recommendation to vacate the building.
The defects included cracks in prestressed beams and girders, which were found to be alarming because these could affect the structural performance and risk the lives of occupants and properties when a major earthquake occurs.
The report noted that the cracks were already present even before the February 6 earthquake.
It recommended a comprehensive evaluation of the structure by a private firm with expertise on posttensioned concrete structures.
Other buildings in Iloilo incurred minor damages due to the earthquake but no other building, including those older than the Hall of Justice was abandoned due to risks of collapse.
The RTC branches have been temporarily relocated to the campus of the former De Paul College in Jaro District while the prosecutors’ offices were transferred to the Iloilo Sports Complex in La Paz District and the Iloilo Terminal Market building.
The resolution, which has not been officially released, will be submitted to the Ombudsman after it is circulated among the judges.
But Justalero said he believed that the resolution should be submitted “even if only one or two will sign so an investigation could start.”
A similar resolution by nine past presidents of IBP Iloilo chapter is expected to be released this week, said lawyer Norberto Posecion, who headed the IBP chapter from 1979 to 1981.
“We are not charging anyone. We only want to determine if there were indeed irregularities that have caused risks, inconveniences and losses to the government and who is liable,” Posecion told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Sunday.
The Iloilo chapter of the Philippine Association of Court Employees (Pace) is also expected to come out with a similar resolution within the next two weeks, said Hilario Cordero, Pace-Iloilo president.
The building was constructed in 1992 upon the initiative of then Justice Secretary Franklin Drilon under the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino.
