Pasay prosecutors hold office at city-run hospital

Lawyers and complainants may not be too thrilled to find out that Pasay City prosecutors have been holding office at the seventh floor of a city hospital—an area that has been designated for wards.

Others have called the city prosecutor’s office at Pasay City General Hospital on P. Burgos Street a one-stop shop for victims and suspected criminals since the medical facility is right beside the Sta. Clara de Montefalco Parish Church.

“You enter a confessional with a priest in the morning, you get booked on a criminal charge in the afternoon and then lie on a gurney for your gunshot wound later,” a lawyer said in a post on Facebook.

Pasay Assistant Prosecutor Orlando Mariano, however, explained that the city’s 28 prosecutors and their administrative staff were just temporary tenants of the hospital.

“We are only here temporarily while the City Hall of Justice is under renovation,” Mariano told the Inquirer.

According to him, the first floor of the justice building at the city hall compound had to undergo repairs due to leaks in the ceiling that resulted in flooding.

“The rooms of the prosecutors at the Hall of Justice will be renovated and the blocked drains will be repaired,” Mariano said, adding that the repairs were expected to last until January.

He complained, however, that because the hospital was not that close to the Hall of Justice, it was quite costly for them as they have to go back and forth between the two places whenever they submit documents and resolutions.

“We are still requesting for a shuttle bus to ferry us from here to the Hall of Justice,” Mariano said.