SC OKs cash aid to court personnel hospitalized, died due to COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has approved financial aid to court judges and employees who were hospitalized and died due to COVID-19, the Office of the Court Administrator said.

Court Administrator Midas Marquez on April 27 issued circular 51-2021 addressing judges and personnel of first and level courts on the approval of financial assistance to those who were hospitalized and those who died due to the coronavirus diseases since March 2020 “until the current pandemic ends.”

“Considering that there are judges and court personnel of the first and second level courts who contracted COVID-19 while in the performance of their functions, there is a need to help them defray their hospitalization expenses incurred in treating COVID-19 infection,” Marquez said.

First level courts are Municipal and Metropolitan Trial Courts, while the second level are those Regional Trial Courts.

The court administrator added that Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, with the concurrence of SC’s full court, has approved the grant of financial aid for employees who contracted COVID-19 and required inpatient care or hospital confinement.

According to the circular, those who were hospitalized due to mild and moderate illness will receive P15,000.

Those characterized as severe to critical illness, but not limited to acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, requiring invasive ventilation, extracorporeal oxygenation, or renal replacement therapy and the like will be given P30,000.

In cases of death due to COVID-19, whether hospitalized or not, the Judiciary will give P50,000 as cash assistance.

It is not immediately known how many court employees contracted COVID-19.

Marquez said the following documents must be submitted to the Financial Management Office, Office of the Court Administrator:

• Result of RT-PCR test (positive) from March 2020 onwards
• Medical certificate stating the clinical findings of the illness caused by COVID-19, including whether the illness is mild, moderate, severe or critical
• Death certificate indicating the patient died of COVID-19 or of complications due to COVID-19
• Disbursement voucher
• Obligation request

“The original hard copies of the above requirements must be received by the FMO-OCA before the subsidy can be released. However, to facilitate and expedite the processing of the claims, all the above requirements may be initially emailed to caresubsidy.oca@judiciary.gov.ph,” the circular read.

Judiciary employees, along with other frontline personnel in essential sectors, have been included in the A4 priority category on the government’s priority vaccination list.