The Quezon City government will build a new Hall of Justice to give the judiciary a decent and conducive workplace and help ensure the speedy dispensation of justice, especially to the poor.
In a statement, the city government said the new building, which will be known as the QC Justice Hall annex, is part of its P500-million investments in the judiciary in the next three years. It will provide a more spacious area for trial court judges to enable them to effectively respond to the needs of city residents.
According to Mayor Herbert Bautista, the city’s development program for the judiciary also highlights the continuing effort of the QC government to strengthen its relationship with the pillars of the criminal justice system, especially the prosecution.
The Justice Hall annex will be built adjacent to the six-story Justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma building in the QC Hall compound, which to date, houses the prosecution service, offices of parole and probation, public attorneys and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-QC Chapter.
The city’s investments for the judiciary will also include the renovation of the old Hall of Justice.
City Administrator Aldrin Cuña said that, once completed, all three buildings shall make up the QC Justice Complex.
The mayor is also scheduled to turn over a bus custom-built as a mobile court in support of the Justice on Wheels program of the Supreme Court.
Earlier, he called on the SC to provide Quezon City with additional court branches for the prosecution of drug-related cases in the city. Bautista raised the need for the SC to dedicate more drug courts considering the magnitude of the drug problem in the city.
“What we are pushing is the actual prosecution of drug-related cases in Quezon City,” Bautista said.
In a meeting of the Peace and Order Council, he also pushed for additional family courts in the city.
SC Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has already recognized the city government’s support for the judiciary, especially the investments it has poured in to implement some of the judicial reforms of the SC.
Sereno said that while Quezon City has one of the most clogged dockets in the country, it is interesting to note that some of the SC’s judicial reform initiatives and agenda are being implemented and experimented in Quezon City.
