Dumangas eyed to host three Iloilo courts

By Mariela Angella Oladive

Dumangas may soon host a new Hall of Justice as the judiciary and the Iloilo provincial government began evaluating potential sites in the town for a judicial complex that will house two Regional Trial Court (RTC) branches and the Municipal Trial Court.

Judge Jennie Ann Logronio, regional court manager for Judicial Region 6, met with Fourth District Board Member Rolando Distura and Provincial Legal Officer Dennis Ventilacion on July 8 to discuss the proposed project and inspect possible locations.

Among the sites under consideration are a provincial property in Barangay Tabucan and a parcel of land owned by the Don Bosco Boys’ Home and Training Center in Dumangas.

The planned Hall of Justice will accommodate RTC Branch 6, a designated family court; RTC Branch 68; and the Municipal Trial Court.

The proposed complex forms part of ongoing efforts to strengthen judicial infrastructure in Iloilo and ensure that court services remain efficient, accessible, and responsive to the needs of litigants, legal practitioners, law enforcement agencies, and the public.

The provincial government reiterated its commitment to supporting the judiciary’s infrastructure requirements.

The proposal builds on efforts initiated in 2025 after structural concerns were raised over the Chief Justice Ramon Q. Avanceña Hall of Justice in Iloilo City following a series of earthquakes.

Court operations at the Avanceña building, which opened in 1992, were suspended after strong earthquakes jolted parts of the Visayas in late 2025, prompting the Supreme Court to order an assessment of the structure’s integrity. The building had earlier undergone a PHP 50 million retrofitting after sustaining damage in a 2012 earthquake.

Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. then expressed the province’s willingness to help identify suitable sites for new judicial facilities, including offering provincial properties for consideration, among them an eight-hectare provincial lot in Barangay Guinobatan, New Lucena.

While long-term plans were being explored, the provincial government temporarily accommodated several justice sector offices in provincial facilities to ensure court-related services continued without interruption.