Manila Hall of Justice to be completed in 2019 – CJ Sereno

THE construction for the Manila Hall of Justice will begin in 2017, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said on Thursday.

She said the funds for the project have been “firmed up” using the Judiciary’s savings.

Sereno said the bidding process for the detailed architectural and engineering design is almost complete.

The Chief Justice said they are expecting that the actual design of the building will be finished in the third quarter of 2016.

“We expect that the construction will be completed in 2019,” Sereno said.

The high court’s budget for the long overdue hall of justice is P1.865 billion, which would cover five phases—pre-design, design, procurement, construction support and post-construction support. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has pushed through with its construction after meeting with Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada in 2014.

The hall of justice will house 120 Regional and Metropolitan Trial Courts.

The construction of the Manila Hall of Justice has been a plan since early 2000 but was shelved for lack of funds. In 2010, the high court requested for a P3 billion budget from the Department of Budget and Management but was turned down.

Then, in 2012, the groundbreaking of the project was held. The budget for the construction was taken from the high court’s savings – the fund which Congress is insisting should be under the Bureau of Treasury.

Currently, Manila trial courts are dispersed in the Manila City Hall, in the old building of the Office of the Ombudsman, the old and condemned structure of the GSIS, the former Masagana mall along UN Avenue and in Binondo.

The proposed Manila HOJ would showcase a model courthouse equipped with modern communication facilities. LCD screens would be put outside each courtroom so that lawyers, litigants and the rest of the public can view court activities and announcements.

The modern hall of justice would also be environment-friendly with paperless conference rooms also equipped for video-conferencing, as well as closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, intercom and Internet wireless hotspots installed in strategic areas.

It would also have a centralized filing and docketing system to vastly improve the administration of justice.