Additional RTC Branch in Zamboanga Sibugay

The Supreme Court must immediately assign the necessary personnel for the additional branch of the Regional Trial Court in the Municipality of Imelda, Province of Zamboanga Sibugay, in accordance with Republic Act No. 9448.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in coordination with the Secretary of the Department of Justice, must immediately include the operationalization of one additional Regional Trial Court branch in its court program.
The additional branch’s station is the Municipality of Imelda, Province of Zamboanga Sibugay.
The funding for the operationalization of the additional branch must be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

Section 1 further amends Section 14, paragraph (j) of Batas Pambansa Blg. 129.
The amendment provides that for the Ninth Judicial Region, there shall be Thirty-one Regional Trial Judges.
For Zamboanga del Sur and the cities of Pagadian and Zamboanga, with seats at Zamboanga City, Pagadian City, Molave, San Miguel, and Aurora, there shall be fourteen branches.
For Zamboanga Sibugay, with seats at Ipil and Imelda, there shall be two branches.

The Supreme Court is mandated to act immediately by assigning the necessary personnel for the additional RTC branch.
The Chief Justice must coordinate with the Secretary of the Department of Justice to include operationalization in the court’s program.
The operationalization must be implemented as one additional Regional Trial Court branch with station at Imelda.

Republic Act No. 9448 requires that the funding for the operationalization of the additional RTC branch be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
The Act’s funding requirement is tied to the inclusion of appropriate appropriations through the annual legislative budget process.

Republic Act No. 9448 was finally passed by the House of Representatives on November 29, 2005 and by the Senate on February 19, 2007.
The Act was approved on May 15, 2007 by the President of the Philippines (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo).