No ID, no entry for court workers starting Monday

Regional Trial Court executive judge Fortunato De Gracia has ordered the strict enforcement beginning Monday of the no entry policy at the Palace of Justice for any court employee who does not wear identification cards.

De Gracia said this complies with the Supreme Court memorandum implementing an interim security protocol for the first and second level courts.

In a memorandum issued on Friday, De Gracia ordered security personnel of the Palace of Justice to accost all court employees without I.D. and immediately submit a report to his office for appropriate administrative action. “RTC personnel without valid Supreme Court IDs will not be allowed entry,” he said.

Supreme Court memorandum order no. 42-2007 requires all court employees to wear and prominently display their I.D. at all times while on official duty. The judges however are exempted from the directive.

The order came about after it had been observed that most, if not all, court employees have not been wearing their IDs while on duty. This is in complete contrast to what the court has been strictly implementing, requiring all people, except lawyers, who enter the Palace of Justice to leave a valid ID at the guard.

The ID system was implemented especially after a hostage incident happened right inside a court in Manila, and the break-in of the evidence room at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office and De Gracia’s court several months ago.

There was no evidence missing at De Gracia’s court while the evidence at the prosecutor’s office was recovered following the arrest of the suspect, who is just a janitor working at the Palace of Justice but still the SC and the court wanted tighter security rules by this time. — Fred P. Languido/RAE