The Senate version of the house bill (HB) filed by Bacolod Rep. Evelio Leonardia that seeks to create three additional Regional Trial Court branches in Bacolod under the 6th Judicial Region has hurdled second reading.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, who authored and sponsored the counterpart bill of Leonardia's HB 2490 in the Upper Chamber, informed the Bacolod congressman that HB 4491 was approved by the Senate, with some amendments, on June 10, a press release from Leonardia's office said yesterday.

The bill is expected to hurdle third and final reading in the Senate and it will be submitted to President Benigno Aquino III for signing, to become a law, it added.

In his letter to Leonardia, Pimentel, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said the Committee Report on HB 4491 that was approved by the Senate was jointly submitted by the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which he chairs, with Senator Loren Legarda as vice chairperson; and the Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Francis Escudero.

Other members who signed the committee report were Senators Teofisto Guingona III, Juan Edgardo Angara, Antonio Trillanes IV, Gregorio Honasan II, Sergio Osmeña III, Ma. Lourdes Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Manuel Lapid, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Vicente Sotto III.

In 2013, Leonardia filed HB 2490 that seeks amendments to Batas Pambansa 129, or the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980, to increase the number of courts in the Lone District of Bacolod.

Leonardia, who was mayor of Bacolod for nine consecutive years before being elected to Congress in 2013, said HB 2490 seeks three additional RTCs for Bacolod that will bring the total for Negros Occidental to 28.

Leonardia said that around the time he filed the bill, or as of June 2013, there were 7,491 criminal and civil cases in the 14 RTCs, which meant an average spread of 535 cases for each court.

A sampling from nine of these courts showed an average monthly disposal of four cases, or only 0.74 percent disposal rate for each court, which is less than one percent, the press release said.

Theoretically, this means it will take each court about 11 years to dispose all of the cases it had as of 2013. "Justice delayed is justice denied" as we all know. The need for these three additional RTC courts therefore is a must in Bacolod, Leonardia said.*

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