THE Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that all courts in the country will remain closed until April 30 following the decision of the government to extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) being implemented in Luzon in line with the state of public health emergency declared by President Duterte to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said all Covid-19 circulars issued by the Court will be extended and remain effective until end of the month.
However, Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta earlier said justices and judges will continue to be busy as they are required to draft decisions and orders in their respective residences during the work stoppage.
“The SC summer Baguio session has also been canceled. We will be releasing the corresponding orders once they have been signed by the Chief Justice,” Hosaka told reporters.
Hosaka said the Court has yet to decide if the April 15, 2020, special session will be moved to another date.
The SC has also approved the online filing of criminal complaints —criminal, commercial and family—before the local courts as part of the ongoing measures to combat the spread of the virus in the country.
Peralta said the circular is intended “to further limit the physical movement of court users, judges and personnel during this period of public health emergency was declared by the President pursuant to existing laws.
It can be recalled that last March 16, the SC decided to order a work stoppage in all courts and court offices and units in the country, except for a skeleton-staff who will act on urgent matters brought before them due to the spread of Covid-19.
In his Administrative Circular 31-2020, Peralta said, upon the recommendation of the Judiciary Task Force on Covid-19 and consultation with the members of the Court en banc, he has decided to reduce court operations from March 16 until April 15, 2020.
During this period, at least the majority of the justices of the collegiate courts, and one or two judges, in the multi-sala stations of the second and first level courts, together with the necessary skeletal-staff, will be in court, or on standby, at any given day to immediately act on these urgent matters.
For single-sala stations, their respective judges and the necessary skeletal-staff are required to be in court on standby.
It added that all night courts are completely suspended.
In an interview, Peralta assured that the judiciary has initiated several reforms even before the Covid-19 pandemic that would address backlog of cases as a result of the court’s closure.
Among the built-in measures adopted by the SC were those revised and special rules on admiralty cases, small claims, continuous trial on criminal cases, and pilot testing of remote testimony, he said.
“I believe this will have a significant impact in addressing the case backlog in some of our courts,” Peralta said.