5. Selected Specially Designated Courts

Selected Specially Designated Courts

Concept

Specially designated courts are branches of existing courts assigned to hear particular classes of cases. Their designation promotes focused and expeditious handling of those cases; it does not, by itself, create a new level of court. The Supreme Court’s designation of an RTC branch in Cebu City as a special court for drug cases illustrates this administrative approach. (Resolution Designating Branch 10 of the Regional Trial Court of Cebu City, A.M. No. 99-7-20-, 27 August 1999)¹

Governing provisions

Special Commercial Courts. The Securities Regulation Code transferred specified cases formerly heard by the Securities and Exchange Commission to Regional Trial Courts designated by the Supreme Court. The designation places those cases before particular RTC branches rather than restoring adjudicative authority to the SEC. (R.A. No. 8799, sec. 5.2)

Special Cybercrime Courts. The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 gives Regional Trial Courts jurisdiction over violations of the Act and provides for the designation of special cybercrime courts. This arrangement addresses offenses involving information and communications technologies within the regular trial-court system. (R.A. No. 10175, sec. 21)

Special Agrarian Courts. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law calls for the designation of RTC branches as Special Agrarian Courts. It gives them original and exclusive jurisdiction over petitions to determine just compensation to landowners and the prosecution of criminal offenses under that law. (R.A. No. 6657, secs. 56–57)

Distinctions

• Common structure: Each is a designated trial-court branch, not a separate collegiate court like the Sandiganbayan or Court of Tax Appeals. Designation identifies where an assigned class of cases is heard; the governing law identifies the class. (R.A. No. 8799, sec. 5.2) (R.A. No. 10175, sec. 21) (R.A. No. 6657, secs. 56–57)
• Different subject matters: Commercial-court designation concerns specified cases transferred from the SEC; cybercrime-court designation concerns violations of the Cybercrime Prevention Act; agrarian-court designation concerns the compensation petitions and criminal prosecutions assigned by the agrarian reform law. The shared word “special” does not make their jurisdictions interchangeable. (R.A. No. 8799, sec. 5.2) (R.A. No. 10175, sec. 21) (R.A. No. 6657, sec. 57)

Bar tip

Identify the law that confers jurisdiction before identifying the designated branch. A court’s special designation is not, on its own, the source of jurisdiction over every case touching its subject matter. (R.A. No. 8799, sec. 5.2) (R.A. No. 10175, sec. 21) (R.A. No. 6657, sec. 57)