Jose Abad Santos Hall of Justice in Angeles, a pilot model court in Phl

By Joelyn G. Baluyut

Tuesday 10th of July 2012

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga, July 10 (PIA) -- The newly inaugurated Jose Abad Santos Hall of Justice (HOJ) in Angeles City is one of the three pilot model courts in the Philippines where the access and dispensation of justice will be strengthened through the installation of systems and technology, the rehabilitation of the courthouse, and the empowerment of human resources.

The other two are Halls of Justice in Lapu-Lapu in Visayas and Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao.

Court Administrator of Supreme Court Jose Midas Marquez, a guest during the inauguration of the hall said, “What we have now is the fruition of the renovation of the Angeles HOJ and the construction of its Annex Building, both to world-class standards in which the World Bank funded.”

“The World Bank financed the renovation and construction of the said HOJ, the procurement of equipment, and the installation of systems and technology to qualify Angeles Hall of Justice as a real model and modern courthouse,” he said.

“Indeed the Angeles courts have come a long way, from their pre-1980 days where four branches of the Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) and two Municipal Trial Courts in Cities (MTCCs) were housed in the Angeles City Library, while the other three RTCs and an MTCC were situated somewhere along McArthur Highway to where they are now – all here in the compound of the City Hall with bigger office spaces, courtrooms and judges’ chambers, storage rooms for each court and detention areas for each courtroom,” he added.

Angeles City HOJ now rests in a 3,480-sq m land from its original area of 1,280 sq m and now boasts of a canteen, meeting rooms, multi-function rooms, maintenance room, information and technology (IT) room, library, centralized holding area for detention prisoners, medical and dental clinic, and judges’ lounge and lawyers’ center, among others.

Marquez said, “The completion of this HOJ however, is not the end of the reforms we have envisioned for Angeles City, but rather, it is just the beginning. We still have to complete the installation of systems and technology, and empower our human resources, and this is where the greater challenge lies.”

“And let it be an additional challenge for all those serving in this great hall to make justice more accessible and fair, and its administration more effective and efficient,” he concluded.

The Angeles City Hall of Justice was renamed after the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and served as Acting President of the Philippines during World War II, Jose Abad Santos, who is from Pampanga. (CLJD/JGB-PIA3)