Supreme Court wants own building at BGC

The Supreme Court (SC) has asked the national government to fund the construction of a modern and disaster-resilient building at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno bared that the High Court has already requested Congress to allocate funds for the high tribunal's proposed building and compound when they pass the 2016 national budget.

She said the SC wants to have its own building, “as a symbol for the Filipino’s sense of justice.”

The lot and buildings on which the SC presently occupies — just like those of Court of Appeals and the Department of Justice, belong to the University of the Philippines.

“It is at the stage now where we are asking money for the building itself because the government has already agreed to fund the acquisition of the land,” Sereno said.

Should Congress approve the fund for the construction of a new SC building, CJ Sereno said that it will take three to four years for the project to finish.

Last year, SC officials said a proposal was submitted to the Department of Budget and Management to purchase a 21,000-square meter lot in Fort Bonifacio worth 1.28 billion, payable in 10 years, with an annual amortization of 128 million.

It was included in the 32.6-billion original proposed budget submitted by the high court for 2015.

But the executive branch only recommended 20.28 billion for the courts or 30 percent less than SC’s request.

Apart from the SC building, also being proposed is the construction of a P3-billion state-of-art Manila Hall of Justice to replace the dilapidated courts in the nation’s capital city.

Based on the proposed budget submitted by the Palace to the Congress, the Supreme Court’s 2015 budget represents 0.65 percent of the total proposed national budget of

2.606 trillion –the lowest percentage in many years.