R.A. 2613

REPUBLIC ACT No. 2613

AN ACT TO AMEND CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS "THE JUDICIARY ACT OF 1948", AS AMENDED.

Section 1. Section six of Republic Act Numbered Two hundred and ninety-six, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 6. Disposition of moneys paid into court. All moneys accruing to the Government in the Supreme Court, in the Court of Appeals, and in the Court of First Instance, including fees, fines, forfeitures, costs, or other miscellaneous receipts, and all trust or depository funds paid into such courts shall be received by the corresponding clerk of court and, in the absence of special provision, shall be paid by him into the National Treasury to the credit of the proper account or fund and under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the Auditor General: Provided, however, That twenty per cent of all fees collected shall be set aside as a special fund for the compensation of attorneys de oficio as may be provided for in the rules of court.

"A clerk shall not receive money belonging to private parties except where the same is paid to him or into court by authority of law."

Section 2. Subparagraph five of paragraph three of section seventeen of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(5) All civil cases in which the value in controversy exceeds two hundred thousand pesos, exclusive of interest and costs, or in which the title or possession of real estate exceeding in value the sum of two hundred thousand pesos to be ascertained by the oath of a party to the cause or by other competent evidence, is involved or brought in question. The Supreme Court shall likewise have exclusive jurisdiction over all appeals in civil cases, even though the value in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, is two hundred thousand pesos or less, when the evidence involved in said cases is the same as the evidence submitted in an appealed civil case within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as provided herein".

Section 3. Section forty-four, paragraph (c), of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 44. Original jurisdiction. Courts of First Instance shall have original jurisdiction:

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"(c) In all cases in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy, amounts to more than five thousand pesos;"

Section 4. Section forty-five of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 45. Appellate Jurisdiction. Courts of First Instance shall have appellate jurisdiction over all cases arising in municipal and justice of the peace courts, in their respective provinces, except over appeals from cases tried by justices of the peace of provincial capitals or municipal judges pursuant to the authority granted under the last paragraph of Section eighty-seven of this Act."

Section 5. Section forty-nine of the same Act, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 49. Judicial districts. Judicial districts for Courts of First Instance in the Philippines are constituted as follows:

Section 6. Section fifty of the same Act, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 50. Judge of First Instance of Judicial Districts. Six judges shall be commissioned for the First Judicial District. Two judges shall preside over the Courts of First Instance of Cagayan and Batanes, and shall be known as judges of the first and second branches thereof, respectively, the judge of the second branch to preside also over the Court of First Instance of Batanes; two judges shall preside over the Court of First Instance of Isabela, and shall be known as the judges of the first and second branches thereof; and two judges shall preside over the Court of First Instance of Nueva Vizcaya, to be known as judges of the first and second branches thereof.

Section 7. Section fifty-two of the same Act, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 52. Permanent stations of district judges. The permanent station of judges of the Sixth Judicial District shall be in the City of Manila.

Section 8. Section fifty-four of the same Act, as amended is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 54. Places and time of holding court. For the Sixth Judicial District, court shall be held in the City of Manila. In other districts, court shall be held at the capitals or places in which the respective judges are permanently stationed, except as herein provided. Sessions of court shall be convened on all working days when there are cases ready for trial or other court business to be dispatched.

Section 9. Section seventy-one of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 71. Qualifications for the office of Justice of thePeace. No person shall be eligible for appointment as justice of the peace or auxiliary justice of the peace unless he is (1) at least twenty-five years of age; (2) a citizen of the Philippines; (3) of good moral character and has not been convicted of any felony; (4) has been admitted by the Supreme Court to the practice of law; and (5) has practiced law in the Philippines for a period of not less than three years or has held during a like period, within the Philippines, and office requiring admission to the practice of law in the Philippines as an indispensable requisite."

Section 10. Sections eighty-seven and eighty-eight of the same Act are hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 87. Original jurisdiction to try criminal cases. Justice of the peace and judges of municipal courts of chartered cities shall have original jurisdiction over:

"Said justices of the peace and judges of municipal courts may also conduct preliminary investigations for any offense alleged to have been committed within their respective municipalities and cities, without regard to the limits of punishment, and may release, or commit and bind over any person charged with such offense to secure his appearance before the proper court.

"Justice of the peace in the capitals of provinces and Judges of Municipal Courts shall have like jurisdiction as the Court of First Instance to try parties charged with an offense committed within the province in which the penalty provided by law does not exceed prision correctional or imprisonment for not more than six years or fine not exceeding three thousand pesos or both, and in the absence of the district judge, shall have like jurisdiction with the province as the Court of First Instance to hear application for bail.

"All cases filed under the next preceding paragraph with Justices of the Peace of capitals and municipal court judges shall be tried and decided on the merits by the respective justices of the peace or municipal judges. Proceedings had shall be recorded and decisions therein shall be appealable direct to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, as the case may be."

"Sec. 88. Original jurisdiction in civil cases. In all civil actions, including those mentioned in Rules fifty-nine and sixty-two of the Rules of Court, arising in his municipality or city, and not exclusively cognizable by the Court of First Instance, the justice of the peace and the judge of a municipal court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction where the value of the subject-matter or amount of the demand does not exceed five thousand pesos, exclusive of interests and costs. Where there are several claims or causes of action between the same parties embodied in the same complaint, the amount of the demand shall be the totality of the demand in all the causes of action, irrespective of whether the causes of action arose out of the same or different transactions; but where the claims or causes of action joined in a single complaint are separately owned by or due to different parties, each separate claim shall furnish the jurisdictional test. In forcible entry and detainer proceedings, the justice of the peace or judge of the municipal court shall may receive evidence upon the question of title therein, whatever may be the value of the property, solely for the purpose of determining the character and extent of possession and damages for detention. In forcible entry proceedings, he may grant preliminary injunctions, in accordance with the provisions of the Rules of Court, to prevent the defendant from committing further acts of dispossession against the plaintiff.

"The jurisdiction of a justice of the peace and judge of a municipal court shall not extend to civil action in which the subject of litigation is not capable of pecuniary estimation, except in forcible entry and detainer cases; nor to those which involve the legality of any tax, impost, or assessment; nor to actions involving admiralty or maritime jurisdiction; nor to matters of probate, the appointment of guardians, trustees or receivers; nor to action for annulment of marriages: Provided, however, That justices of the peace may, with the approval of the Secretary of Justice, be assigned by the respective district judge in each case to hear and determine cadastral or land registration cases covering lots where there is no controversy or opposition, or contested lots the value to be ascertained by the affidavit of the claimant or by agreement of the respective claimants, if there are more than one, or from the corresponding tax declaration of real property.

"Justices of the peace in the capitals of provinces and subprovinces and also municipal judges of chartered cities, in the absence of the District Judge from the province may exercise within the province like interlocutory jurisdiction as the Court of First Instance, which shall be held to include the hearing of all motions for the appointments of a receiver, for temporary injunctions, and for all other orders of the court which are not final in their character and do not involve a decision of the case on its merits, and the hearing of petitions for a writ of habeas corpus."

Section 11. The first paragraph of section sixty-eight of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 68. Appointment and distribution of justices of the peace. There shall be one justice of the peace and one auxiliary justice of the peace in each municipality and municipal district, and if the public interest shall so require, in any minor political division or unorganized territory in the Philippines, and such Judges of Municipal Courts in each chartered city as their respective charters provide: Provided, That in addition to the present number of municipal judges in the City of Manila and Quezon City as provided for in their respective charters, there shall be two additional municipal judges for the City of Manila and one additional municipal judge for Quezon City, who shall have jurisdiction, assignment and compensation provided for in the charter of their respective cities.

Section 12. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sum as may be necessary to carry out the purpose of this Act.

Section 13. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: August 1, 1959