QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 9592)
RA 9373 creates two additional Regional Trial Court (RTC) branches in the Province of Leyte, to be stationed in Tacloban City, and amends BP Blg. 129 for this purpose.
It amends Section 14, paragraph (i) of Batas Pambansa Blg. 129 (Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980), specifically changing the number and seats/locations of RTC branches for the Eighth Judicial Region.
It provides that there shall be 43 RTC judges commissioned for the Eighth Judicial Region and specifies 19 branches with seats for Leyte, Biliran, and the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban, with the enumerated seats including additional locations to support the creation of two more branches.
They have seats at Tacloban City, Abuyog, Calubian, Ormoc City, Carigara, Baybay, Burauen, Naval, Palompon, Hilongos, and Caibiran.
Tacloban City and Ormoc City are expressly mentioned as cities having seats/coverage, along with Leyte and Biliran.
The Supreme Court assigns the two additional RTC branches, and they are located in the City of Tacloban, Province of Leyte.
The Chief Justice, coordinating with the Secretary of Justice, must immediately include the operationalization of the additional RTC branches in the Supreme Court’s program, and ensure that their funding is included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
RA 9373 requires that the funding for the operationalization of the additional RTC branches be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
It takes effect upon its approval.
It means the law adjusts the existing statutory framework on RTC structures/assignments by modifying BP Blg. 129—specifically Section 14—so that two more RTC branches can be created and their seats specified.
BP Blg. 129 is the primary statute that defines the RTC structure; RA 9373 amends it to expand the RTC capacity within the Eighth Judicial Region.
This provision determines RTC judges/branches and their seats by judicial region; RA 9373 modifies that provision to reflect the creation and seat allocation of additional branches for Leyte/Tacloban.
By reading Section 1, which states the changes apply to the Eighth Judicial Region and then lists relevant provinces/cities (Leyte, Biliran, Ormoc City, Tacloban City) and seats.
Implementation is done through Supreme Court assignment of branches (Sec. 2) and coordination for operationalization and inclusion of funding in the General Appropriations Act (Sec. 3).
It is intended to improve judicial access and case handling capacity by increasing the number of RTC branch offices and thereby distributing judicial workloads across the listed seats.