No reopening of Cebu office for court admin

Several Cebu judges expressed regret that the reopening of the Regional Court Administration Office (RCAO) in Lapu-Lapu City will not proceed.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has changed her mind about the move.

The Cebu-based office she wanted to reopen to decentralize court administration functions will have to wait.

After Sereno was placed in hot water last year for issuing a resolution to reopen the office, without the approval of the other justices, she backed off.

In a three-page en banc resolution, Sereno along with the 14 associate justices of the Supreme Court (SC), set aside the Nov. 27, 2012 resolution which was to pave the way for reopening the Cebu-based Regional Court Administration Office (RCAO).

The development, reported in Bombo Radyo’s website, was confirmed yesterday by former Cebu judge Geraldine Faith Eco, who was earlier appointed RCAO head.

“The Supreme Court resolved to assess the need for decentralization and for the committee to conduct an assessment,” she said in a text message to Cebu Daily News.  She did not elaborate.

“Sayang,” said Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Meinrado Paredes.

“The trend nowadays in the national government is decentralization. The RCAO was created to ease the burden of the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA). With the presence of the RCAO, we should have supplies and travel requests should have been easier to avail of.”

The new office in Cebu would mean removing some of the functions of Court Administartor Jose Midas Marquez based in Manila.

Paredes said the only problem with the RCAO in Cebu before before was its employees.

“There were complaints that RCAO employees were arrogant—a matter of human relations. Other than that, everything was okay,” he said.

RTC Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr. said he was “saddened by the news.”

“The RCAO would have helped us a lot. The Supreme Court should decentralize its services. It’s just plain common sense,” he said. During the interview inside his chamber, Dumdum showed reporters a defective air-conditioner.

“If you notice, I do not have an air-con. I’m using an electric fan. We could have asked the local government unit to provide one but we want to avoid that. So we ought to go to the Supreme Court but when will the aircon be delivered?,” he said.

Dumdum said RTC judges sent a letter to manifest their happiness after RCA’’s ceremonial reopening last Oct. 29, 2012. But the office was short-lived.  “The RCAO was not fully operational. Personally, I’m dismayed. RCAO should be given a chance,” Dumdum said.

The RCAO-7 is located at the Lapu-Lapu City Hall of Justice and was launched in 2008  by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno.    A ceremonial reopening was held last Oct. 29, 2012.

It’s initial 30 employees dwindled to about three after reports came out that SC judges were unhappy about Sereno’s resolution which didn’t fully express their sentiment.

The pilot project was aimed at decentralizing administrative functions of the Manila-based OCA.

Autonomy

It was also created to to enhance the autonomy, accountability and efficiency of the judiciary and the administration of justice. Earlier Senior Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro sought to recall the  resolution for the reopening of the office since it didn’t reflect the objections raised by other justices against the RCAO.

Sereno’s resolution to reopen the RCAO in Cebu was issued without en banc approval from the High Court last Nov. 27, 2012. De Castro said that Econg, who is the head of the SC’s Project Management Office cannot be in charge of RCAO since it was not part of her duties.

Lawyer Earl Bonachita, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City chapter, said he hopes the RCAO won’t be abolished. “I believe in decentralization of the bureaucracy. Certain matters  aren’t immediately acted upon by local courts because they need the approval of the central office,” he said. /Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter