Court of Appeals also damaged; school building offered for courts

ASIDE from the Palace of Justice, the Court of Appeals and the Ombudsman-Visayas office in Cebu City also sustained substantial damage caused by the Oct. 15 earthquake.

“A structural engineer inspected the building and found defects that may endanger the safety of the occupants,” Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles said.

He said work at the appellate court is suspended “until further notice.”

A skeletal team remains at the building’s ground floor to process pleadings that may be filed.

Supreme Court Administrator Midas Marquez will arrive in Cebu City today to inspect the Palace of Justice.

Court employees have abandoned the Palace of Justice in Cebu City since the Oct. 15 earthquake.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has suggested housing the courts temporarily in the vacated Cebu Eastern College (CEC) building.

Temporary home

Rama, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Executive Judge Soliver Peras and Judge Alexandra Acosta inspected the CEC building along D. Jakosalem Street which can accommodate 700 to 800 persons.

“The Chinese group is willing to have their school (rented by the courts). I don’t know how much. But I told the school owners that the price will come later. What is important is for the courts to have a temporary home,” Rama said.

The three-story CEC in downtown Cebu City houses several classrooms and an auditorium which can be used as courtrooms.

Jeffrey Go, CEC executive board officer, said the building remains unoccupied since 2008.

“While 80 percent of the Chinese community in the Visayas-Mindanao area graduated from CEC, our student population went down recently since there are already several Chinese schools nowadays,” Go said.

Since all their students can be accommodated inside their campus in the corner of Dimasalang and Leon Kilat in Cebu City, they vacated the CEC building.

Rama said the school building will be a good place for the courts to stay in the meantime.

Rentals

“It (temporary courthouse) has to be in the heart of the city. It cannot be that you will transfer to Mandaue or Lapu-Lapu. The Supreme Court should just be ready to pay for the rentals of the building,” Rama said.

Before going to CEC, Rama went to the Palace of Justice to inspect the condition of the building and the court employees holding office in tents outside.

Rama said he tried to contact 2GO Shipping to provide container vans where court employees can temporarily place court documents and records.

“I told the judges that as much as possible, no one should enter the Palace of Justice. We don’t know when the tremors will stop. I will seriously be bringing our engineering department to come and make this a priority,” he said.

Judge Peras said they are waiting for the Supreme Court (SC) to decide where court employees shall stay. “It’s up to the SC. All we (judges) do is to recommend,” he said.