MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court will continue to operate on a 15-percent onsite capacity until the end of October, regardless of changes in alert level guidelines in Manila.
Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo on Thursday said offices in the SC will remain in the same operational capacity as with the past month, not exceeding 15%, "consisting of only the absolutely essential staff" for October.
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The Office of the Bar Confidant, medical and dental services, security division and maintenance division may allow up to 30% of staff to report physically to the office.
Those reporting on site will be on a rotation basis, to be determined by the heads of their offices. The remaining staff meanwhile will be under work-from-home arrangement.
"In the event that those assigned to physically report to the above offices/services reside in areas placed under granular lockdown or micro-level quarantine (critical zones), they shall be replaced by those residing in areas with lower alert levels," he added.
Gesmundo also said that the "no personal filing" policy will continue for the month.
In August, the SC advised lawyers, parties and litigants that personal filing or service of pleadings is not allowed, except for urgent matters but that will be up to the court or office concerned.
Metro Manila was put under Alert Level 4 under a five-tiered system from September 16 to 30.
Alert Level 4 means that "case counts are high and/or increasing, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate at high utilization."
The government is expected to announce the new alert level for the National Capital Region on Thursday. President Rodrigo Duterte is also set to make a public address in the evening. — Kristine Joy Patag