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PNoy, Sereno lead groundbreaking of state-of-the-art SC complex in Taguig
By MARK MERUEÑAS, GMA News
(Updated 12:27 p.m.) President Benigno Aquino III and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday led the groundbreaking of the future site of a "state-of-the-art" Supreme Court complex in Taguig City.
The site is located in a P1.28-billion, 21,463 square-meter property at the former Philippine Army Security Escort Group area.
Attending the ceremony were justices from the SC, Court of Appeals, and Sandiganbayan, as well as former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
SC Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe said the Department of Budget and Management has already approved the P3.2 billion budget for the design and construction of the SC complex, which would include a nine-story building with 51 offices and a six-storey parking building with 600 parking slots.
The complex, she said, is slated to be completed by 2019.
Bernabe said the complex will “adopt an environmentally sustainable design aimed at lowering carbon footprint… lowering maintenance expense."
She added that the complex would be "at par with foreign counterparts or even better."
Bernabe assured the public that the buildings would adhere with the Building Code, and could withstand earthquakes and typhoons.
She said the new complex would address congestion at the high tribunal and at the Office of the Court Administrator, which have a combined 2,800 employees, who she said were "working in cramp spaces that do not meet the 10 sq. m. per person requirement."
The complex is also expected to remedy the inefficiencies brought about by the current set-up of having the docket office and cashier located in separate areas.
Bernabe also said the complex would house a training center and a convention hall expected to bolster the SC’s capacity building program and allow the tribunal to host local and international conventions.
The sale of the property was pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the SC for the purchase of the land, which was approved by the high court through an en banc resolution dated April 22, 2014.
On May 15, 2014, the BCDA and the SC entered into another MOU granting the latter an option to buy the property within a period of one year reckoned from the signing of the MOU, for a consideration of P100,000 that is deductible from the total contract price of P1,287,780,000.00.
The SC said 10 percent of the contract price would be paid through the SC’s budget under the General Appropriations Act of 2015, while the remaining 90 percent would be paid with budget from the National Expenditure Program for 2016.
The lot is currently occupied by the K-9 Unit of the Philippine Army and its facilities.
During the ceremony, BCDA's Arnel Paciano Casanova and SC clerk of Court Felipa Anama led the ceremonial signing of the contract to sell.
Aquino and Sereno then proceeded with the laying of the capsule and groundbreaking for the new complex.
The SC currently sits on land owned by the University of the Philippines along Padre Faura in Manila.
In July, Sereno said it would not take long before the new SC building will be erected at the site, especially after the property was declared safe from the West Valley Fault.
The 100-kilometer West Valley Fault transects 42 barangays in Quezon City, Marikina, Pasig, Makati, Taguig, Muntinlupa, and 30 barangays in Bulacan, Laguna and Cavite.
The West Valley Fault could possibly generate a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, almost as strong as the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit Nepal last month, while the East Valley Fault could generate a magnitude 6.2 earthquake.
Sereno hoped the new SC building will carry a "modern edifice... [that will become a] memorable public building," saying that the last "memorable" public structure was Quezon City's Batasan Pambansa, home of the Philippine House of Representatives.
She noted that even the Senate still rents offices from the south portion of the state-owned Government Service Insurance System in Pasay City. —KG/KBK, GMA News
The site is located in a P1.28-billion, 21,463 square-meter property at the former Philippine Army Security Escort Group area.
Attending the ceremony were justices from the SC, Court of Appeals, and Sandiganbayan, as well as former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
SC Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe said the Department of Budget and Management has already approved the P3.2 billion budget for the design and construction of the SC complex, which would include a nine-story building with 51 offices and a six-storey parking building with 600 parking slots.
The complex, she said, is slated to be completed by 2019.
Bernabe said the complex will “adopt an environmentally sustainable design aimed at lowering carbon footprint… lowering maintenance expense."
She added that the complex would be "at par with foreign counterparts or even better."
Bernabe assured the public that the buildings would adhere with the Building Code, and could withstand earthquakes and typhoons.
She said the new complex would address congestion at the high tribunal and at the Office of the Court Administrator, which have a combined 2,800 employees, who she said were "working in cramp spaces that do not meet the 10 sq. m. per person requirement."
The complex is also expected to remedy the inefficiencies brought about by the current set-up of having the docket office and cashier located in separate areas.
Bernabe also said the complex would house a training center and a convention hall expected to bolster the SC’s capacity building program and allow the tribunal to host local and international conventions.
The sale of the property was pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the SC for the purchase of the land, which was approved by the high court through an en banc resolution dated April 22, 2014.
On May 15, 2014, the BCDA and the SC entered into another MOU granting the latter an option to buy the property within a period of one year reckoned from the signing of the MOU, for a consideration of P100,000 that is deductible from the total contract price of P1,287,780,000.00.
The SC said 10 percent of the contract price would be paid through the SC’s budget under the General Appropriations Act of 2015, while the remaining 90 percent would be paid with budget from the National Expenditure Program for 2016.
The lot is currently occupied by the K-9 Unit of the Philippine Army and its facilities.
During the ceremony, BCDA's Arnel Paciano Casanova and SC clerk of Court Felipa Anama led the ceremonial signing of the contract to sell.
Aquino and Sereno then proceeded with the laying of the capsule and groundbreaking for the new complex.
The SC currently sits on land owned by the University of the Philippines along Padre Faura in Manila.
In July, Sereno said it would not take long before the new SC building will be erected at the site, especially after the property was declared safe from the West Valley Fault.
The 100-kilometer West Valley Fault transects 42 barangays in Quezon City, Marikina, Pasig, Makati, Taguig, Muntinlupa, and 30 barangays in Bulacan, Laguna and Cavite.
The West Valley Fault could possibly generate a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, almost as strong as the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit Nepal last month, while the East Valley Fault could generate a magnitude 6.2 earthquake.
Sereno hoped the new SC building will carry a "modern edifice... [that will become a] memorable public building," saying that the last "memorable" public structure was Quezon City's Batasan Pambansa, home of the Philippine House of Representatives.
She noted that even the Senate still rents offices from the south portion of the state-owned Government Service Insurance System in Pasay City. —KG/KBK, GMA News
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