Legal basis and amended Judiciary Act
- Republic Act No. 2613 amends Republic Act No. 296 (Judiciary Act of 1948).
- Section 1 amends Section 6 of Republic Act No. 296.
- Sections 2 to 11 amend specific jurisdiction, judicial district, court organization, and appointment/qualification provisions of Republic Act No. 296.
- Sections 12 and 13 address funding and effectivity of the Act’s implementation.
Court funds and clerk restrictions
- Section 6 requires that all moneys accruing to the Government in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Court of First Instance—covering fees, fines, forfeitures, costs, or other miscellaneous receipts, and all trust or depository funds paid into such courts—be received by the corresponding clerk of court.
- In the absence of special provision, Section 6 mandates that the clerk pay those moneys into the National Treasury to the credit of the proper account or fund under regulations prescribed by the Auditor General.
- Section 6 sets a mandatory allocation: 20% of all fees collected must be set aside as a special fund for the compensation of attorneys de oficio, as may be provided for in the rules of court.
- Section 6 prohibits a clerk from receiving money belonging to private parties except where the money is paid to the clerk or into court by authority of law.
Supreme Court and First Instance jurisdiction
- Section 2 amends Section 17(3)(5) to place certain civil cases within the Supreme Court’s exclusive jurisdiction when:
- the value in controversy exceeds PHP 200,000, exclusive of interest and costs; or
- the title or possession of real estate valued above PHP 200,000, to be ascertained by the oath of a party to the cause or by other competent evidence, is involved or brought in question.
- Section 2 further provides that the Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over all appeals in civil cases even when the value in controversy is PHP 200,000 or less, exclusive of interest and costs, if the evidence is the same as the evidence submitted in a civil appealed case within the Supreme Court’s exclusive jurisdiction as provided in the amended provision.
- Section 3 amends Section 44(c) to give Courts of First Instance original jurisdiction in cases where the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy amounts to more than PHP 5,000.
- Section 4 amends Section 45(a) to give Courts of First Instance appellate jurisdiction over cases arising in municipal and justice of the peace courts in their respective provinces, except appeals from cases tried by justices of the peace of provincial capitals or municipal judges under the authority granted under the last paragraph of Section 87 of the Judiciary Act.
Judicial districts and judge commissions
- Section 5 amends Section 49 by constituting the judicial districts for Courts of First Instance, enumerating:
- First Judicial District: Cagayan, Batanes, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya.
- Second Judicial District: Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, City of Baguio, Mountain Province, La Union.
- Third Judicial District: Pangasinan, Zambales, City of Dagupan.
- Fourth Judicial District: Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Cabanatuan City.
- Fifth Judicial District: Pampanga, Bataan, Bulacan.
- Sixth Judicial District: City of Manila.
- Seventh Judicial District: Rizal, Quezon City and Pasay City, Cavite (including City of Cavite), City of Tagaytay, Trece Martires City, Palawan (as listed).
- Eighth Judicial District: Laguna, San Pablo City, Batangas, Lipa City, Oriental Mindoro and Occidental Mindoro.
- Ninth Judicial District: Quezon and Camarines Norte.
- Tenth Judicial District: Camarines Sur, Naga City, Albay, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Masbate.
- Eleventh Judicial District: Capiz, Roxas City, Aklan, Romblon, Marinduque, Iloilo City and Iloilo Province, Antique.
- Twelfth Judicial District: Occidental Negros, Bacolod City and Silay, Oriental Negros, Dumaguete City, Siquijor (as listed).
- Thirteenth Judicial District: Samar, Calbayog City, Leyte, Ormoc City and Tacloban.
- Fourteenth Judicial District: Cebu, City of Cebu, Bohol.
- Fifteenth Judicial District: Surigao and Agusan, Butuan City, Oriental Misamis, Cagayan de Oro City, Bukidnon and Lanao, Iligan and Marawi Cities.
- Sixteenth Judicial District: Davao, City of Davao, Cotabato and Occidental Misamis, Ozamiz City, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga City, Basilan City, and Sulu Province.
- Section 6 amends Section 50 by specifying the number of judges commissioned per judicial district and the branch distribution (including branch counts) for each district, from First through Sixteenth.
- Section 7 amends Section 52 to provide permanent stations of district judges, including:
- the Sixth Judicial District permanent station in the City of Manila; and
- permanent station locations for judges in other judicial districts, with detailed municipality/city assignments for each branch/judge in each district.
- Section 8 amends Section 54 by specifying places and times of holding court, including:
- general rules that court is held at capitals or the permanent station places of judges (except as otherwise provided), and that sessions convene on all working days when there are cases ready for trial or other court business to be dispatched.
- special court terms and specific dates/places for the First, Second, Seventh, Eight, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth judicial districts (as enumerated).
Justice of the peace qualifications and cases
- Section 9 amends Section 71 by requiring that no person is eligible for appointment as justice of the peace or auxiliary justice of the peace unless the person:
- is at least twenty-five years of age;
- is a citizen of the Philippines;
- is of good moral character and has not been convicted of any felony;
- has been admitted by the Supreme Court to the practice of law; and
- has practiced law in the Philippines for not less than three years or has held for like period within the Philippines an office requiring admission to the practice of law as an indispensable requisite.
- Section 10 amends Section 87 to define original jurisdiction in criminal cases for justices of the peace and municipal court judges of chartered cities within their territorial jurisdiction, including:
- violations of municipal or city ordinances;
- criminal cases arising under specified laws, including (among others) gambling and lotteries; assaults where the intent to kill is not charged or evident; larceny/embezzlement/estafa not exceeding PHP 200; sale of intoxicating liquors; falsely impersonating an officer; malicious mischief; trespass on government or private property; threatening to take human life; and illegal possession of firearms;
- other offenses except violation of election laws where the penalty provided by law is imprisonment for not more than six months, or a fine of not more than PHP 200, or both.
- Section 87 allows justices of the peace and municipal court judges to conduct preliminary investigations for any offense alleged to have been committed within their municipalities/cities without regard to the limits of punishment, and to release, or commit and bind over persons charged to secure appearance before the proper court.
- Section 87 grants provincial capital/coverage rules: justices of the peace in capitals of provinces and judges of municipal courts have like jurisdiction as the Court of First Instance to try parties for offenses where the penalty does not exceed prision correctional or imprisonment for not more than six years, or fine not exceeding PHP 3,000, or both; and, in absence of the district judge, they may hear applications for bail within the province.
- Section 87 provides that cases filed under the preceding paragraph must be tried and decided on the merits by the respective justice of the peace or municipal judge, with recorded proceedings and decisions appealable directly to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, as the case may be.
- Section 10 amends Section 88 to set exclusive original jurisdiction in civil cases for justices of the peace and municipal court judges over cases arising in their municipality/city and not exclusively cognizable by the Court of First Instance, where:
- the value of the subject-matter or amount of the demand does not exceed PHP 5,000, exclusive of interests and costs.
- Section 88 sets rules for determining jurisdictional value:
- where several claims or causes of action are embodied in the same complaint between the same parties, the jurisdictional amount is the totality of the demand in all causes of action, regardless of whether the causes of action arise out of the same or different transactions;
- where the claims or causes of action in the same complaint are separately owned by or due to different parties, each separate claim supplies the jurisdictional test.
- Section 88 provides special rules for forcible entry and detainer:
- justices of the peace or municipal judges have original jurisdiction in forcible entry and detainer cases;
- they may receive evidence on the question of title solely to determine the character and extent of possession and damages for detention, regardless of property value;
- in forcible entry proceedings, they may grant preliminary injunctions in accordance with the Rules of Court to prevent further acts of dispossession.
- Section 88 states limits on jurisdiction: civil actions are excluded from the justice of the peace and municipal judge jurisdiction where subject litigation is not capable of pecuniary estimation (except forcible entry and detainer), and where the action involves legality of any tax, impost, or assessment; admiralty or maritime jurisdiction; probate matters; appointment of guardians, trustees or receivers; and action for annulment of marriages.
- Section 88 allows assignment by the district judge: with the approval of the Secretary of Justice, justices of the peace may be assigned to hear and determine cadastral or land registration cases where there is no controversy or opposition, or contested lots with value not exceeding PHP 5,000, with the value ascertained by affidavit of the claimant, agreement of claimants where there is more than one, or from the corresponding tax declaration of real property.
- Section 88 grants interlocutory authority when the district judge is absent: justices of the peace in provincial/subprovincial capitals and municipal judges of chartered cities may exercise within the province like interlocutory jurisdiction as the Court of First Instance, including hearings of motions for appointment of a receiver, temporary injunctions, and other non-final orders not involving decision on the merits, and hearings of petitions for a writ of habeas corpus.
Funding and immediate effectivity
- Section 12 appropriates such sums from the National Treasury as may be necessary to carry out the purpose of Republic Act No. 2613.
- Section 13 provides that the Act takes effect upon approval (August 1, 1959).