IN order to balance congested court dockets and deliver justice swiftly, the Supreme Court En Banc has ordered the amendment of the territorial jurisdiction of Branch 87, Regional Trial Court (RTC), Rosario, Batangas (Branch 87, Rosario RTC), as follows:
The territorial jurisdiction over the Municipality of Ibaan, Batangas is transferred from Branch 87, Rosario RTC, to the RTC, Batangas City, Batangas (Batangas City RTC); and
The territorial jurisdiction over the Municipality of Padre Garcia, Batangas is transferred from Branch 87, Rosario RTC, to the RTC, Lipa City, Batangas (Lipa City RTC).
Pending cases. The cases originating from the Municipalities of Ibaan and Padre Garcia that are presently pending before Branch 87 Rosario RTC shall be handled in accordance with the following rules:
All newly-filed cases; all civil cases that have not yet reached the pre-trial stage; and all criminal cases where the accused have not yet been arraigned originating from the Municipality of Ibaan shall be transferred to the Batangas City RTC;
While all other cases originating from the Municipality of Ibaan will remain with Branch 87, Rosario RTC, unless both parties manifest their desire for the transfer of their case to the Batangas City RTC;
All newly-filed cases; all civil cases that have not yet reached the pre-trial stage; and all criminal cases where the accused have not yet been arraigned originating from the Municipality of Padre Garcia shall be transferred to the Lipa City RTC; and
While all other cases originating from the Municipality of Padre Garcia will remain with Branch 87 Rosario RTC, unless both parties manifest their desire for the transfer of their case to the Lipa City RTC.
Archived cases. All archived cases shall remain with Branch 87 Rosario RTC, which shall handle the same cases when revived.
Transferred cases. The respective Executive Judges of the Batangas City RTC and the Lipa City RTC shall raffle or assign the transferred cases among the judges in the station pursuant to the existing rules on distribution of cases.
Administrative supervision. The administrative supervision over the Municipal Trial Court, Ibaan, Batangas, shall be transferred to the Batangas City RTC, while the administrative supervision over the Municipal Trial Court, Padre Garcia, Batangas, shall be transferred to the Lipa City RTC.
With this development, the jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court Branch 87 – Rosario, Batangas will now be diminished to the towns of Rosario, San Juan, Taysan and Lobo. The RTC Lipa City station with four (4) branches now covers Lipa City, Mtaas na Kahoy, Cuenca and Padre Garcia; while Batangas City RTC station with seven (7) branches now covers Batangas City, San Pascual, Bauan, Mabini, Tingloy, San Jose and Ibaan.| – With report from SCPIO
