PRRD signs law expanding jurisdiction of RTCs, MTCs

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a law further expanding the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts, and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts to address the delay in the disposition of cases due to overloading of cases assigned per judge.

Republic Act (RA) 11576 amends Section 19 of the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980 or the Batas Pambansa Bldg. 129.

One of the amendments included in the law is the increase in the jurisdictional amount under the regional trial courts (RTCs) in all civil actions involving the title to, or possession of, real property from PHP20,000 (PHP50,000 in Metro Manila) to PHP400,000.

The RTCs shall also have jurisdictional supervision “in all matters of probate, both testate and intestate, where the gross value of the estate exceeds PHP2 million” from PHP100,000 to PHP200,000.

RA 11576 further delegates to the Supreme Court (SC) the power to further increase or decrease the jurisdictional threshold of the first and second level courts in line with the SC’s power of administrative supervision over all courts.

“The Supreme Court, unless otherwise provided by law, without prejudice, however, on the part of the Congress to adjust the amounts when the circumstances so warrant, may adjust the jurisdictional amount for first and second level courts to: (1) reflect the extraordinary supervening inflation or deflation of currency; (2) reflect change in the land valuation; or (3) maintain the proportion of caseload between first and second level courts,” the law read.

The provisions of RA 11576 shall apply prospectively to all civil cases filed in the second-level courts and first-level courts from the date of its effectivity thereof.

If any provision in the act is declared unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity and effectivity of the other provisions thereof.

All laws, decrees, and orders inconsistent with the provisions of this act shall be considered amended or modified accordingly.

RA 11576 was passed by the Senate as Senate Bill 1886 on Feb. 8, 2021 and adopted by the House of Representatives as an amendment to House Bill 6589 on May 19, 2021.

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights and sponsor of SB 1886, expressed hope the law would unclog the court dockets of the RTCs, and speed up the disposition of cases.

Gordon said there are so many cases to be heard but very few judges are deciding on the cases.