Makati City Mayor Abby Binay on Monday, Jan. 8, advised Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano to urge Taguig's district representatives in Congress to file an urgent bill creating additional courts to handle the influx of cases from the 10 EMBO barangays which are now under the jurisdiction of Taguig City.

Mayor Abby Binay

The Supreme Court (SC) had earlier issued a resolution designating seven Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) and four Metropolitan Trial Courts of Makati as Assisting Courts for Taguig during the transition of cases belonging to the EMBO barangays comprised of Pembo, Comembo, Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo, Pitogo, Rizal, Northside and Southside.

“Mayor Lani Cayetano should already get the ball rolling and urge Taguig lawmakers to file an urgent bill proposing the creation of additional courts that will absorb the additional case load resulting from the transfer of 10 EMBO barangays to Taguig,” Binay said.

She reminded Cayetano that the SC's move was only intended as a temporary solution to aid in the transition of judicial jurisdiction from Makati to Taguig.

“Albeit temporary, the arrangement poses inconvenience to Taguig litigants and causes undue imposition on Makati and its taxpayers. We will be shouldering the costs of operations and bearing the impact of increased number of visitors on city hall’s operations,” Binay explained.

“May pera naman ang Taguig at sabi nila handa sila na mag-take over. Pero bakit hindi sila gumagalaw? They want Makati to assume the costs and expenses, they want to get properties that are not theirs, but they do not want to assume any responsibility. Parang ang tawag doon, panggugulang (Taguig has funds and they expressed their readiness to take over, but why are they not moving? They want Makati to assume the costs and expenses, they want to get properties that are not theirs, but they do not want to assume any responsibility. I think that's the same as swindling)," she added.

The mayor also noted that Senator Alan Peter Cayetano even thanked the SC for “acting very judiciously” in transferring judicial jurisdiction to Taguig effective Jan. 1 2024, in a Facebook live post on Friday.

“The senator from Taguig seems to be oblivious to the adverse implications of not having enough courts in Taguig to handle the case load generated from the EMBO barangays,” Binay said explaining that the designated assisting courts in Makati will be doubly burdened because they will not only bear heavier case load, but also more paperwork owing to the new guidelines.

“As such, it is incumbent upon the Mayor of Taguig to see to it that their House Representatives, her husband and her sister-in-law in the Senate, will take urgent action by filing a bill creating additional courts and actively pushing for its enactment,” the local chief added.

In its Resolution, the SC has designated seven Regional Trial Courts of Makati as assisting courts, namely, Branches 136 (Family Court), 144 (Family Court), 147 (Special Commercial Court, 63 (Drugs Court), 145, 65 (Drugs Court), and 134. The four Metropolitan Trial Courts assigned to assist on Taguig cases are Branches 61, 66, 128 and 129.