EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 101 - FURTHER AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1486, AS AMENDED BY PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1606 CREATING A SPECIAL COURT TO BE KNOWN AS “SANDIGANBAYAN”

WHEREAS, the Sandiganbayan has been vested with exclusive jurisdiction to try civil and criminal cases against public officers for violations of the Revised Penal Code and special laws, including Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Republic Act No. 1379; 

WHEREAS, there is a need to amend this law to allow the court to try such civil and criminal cases in a forum most convenient to it;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, do hereby order; 

Section 1. Sec. 2 of Presidential Decree No. 1486, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1606, is hereby amended to reads as follows:

“Sec. 2. Official Station: Place of Holding Sessions. — The Sandiganbayan shall have its principal office in the Metro Manila area and shall hold sessions thereat for the trial and determination of all cases filed with it irrespective of the place where they may have arisen; Provided, however, that the Presiding Justice may authorize any division or divisions of the court to hold sessions and decide cases at any time and place outside Metro Manila, and, where the interest of justice so requires, outside the territorial boundaries of the Philippines. The Sandiganbayan may require the services of the personnel and the use of facilities of the courts or other government offices where any of the divisions is holding session, and the personnel of such courts or offices shall be subject to the orders of the Sandiganbayan.”

Sec. 2. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately. 

Done in the City of Manila, this 24th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-six.