MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court ordered the physical closure of courts in Metro Manila and other localities under stricter quarantine protocols from August 3 to 14 amid rising COVID-19 infections.
Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta on Sunday night directed courts under the National Capital Judicial Region as well as those in areas under enhanced community Quarantine or modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) "physically closed to all court users" until August 14.
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Courts covered by the order can be reached through their respective hotlines, email addresses and/or Facebook accounts. Inquiries on transactions and requests for documents may also be coursed through these channels.
The announcement came prior to Malacañang’s move to revert Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna and Cavite to MECQ status from August 4 to 18, following the recommendation of the inter-agency task force on COVID-19.
This was after medical professionals and frontliners over the weekend urged the national government to reform and recalibrate its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, slamming what they called the administration's militarist approach.
Higher courts operations
The SC’s essential offices and services shall continue in-court with a skeleton staff during the period.
Sessions by the tribunal as a full court and its three divisions meanwhile will be held through videoconferencing.
The Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan and Court of Tax Appeals shall continue to receive petitions and pleadings electronically, and resolve cases pending before them. Hearings will be held through videoconferencing.
Regional trial courts, family courts and first level courts
All pleadings for civil and criminal cases shall be filed electronically to the branch where the case is pending.
Courts are also authorized to hear the cases through videoconferencing. “In-court hearings may be conducted should the judge find them to be necessary,” Peralta said.
A skeleton staff, assigned by the executive judge, will attend to concerns that may not be addressed online.
Night courts and Saturday courts shall also remain suspended until August 14.
In the past four days, the Department of Health reported record high tallies for single-day new coronavirus. On Sunday, it logged 5,032 new infections, pushing the national tally to 103,185.