MANILA, Philippines — Employees and officials in the Judiciary are now at the fourth category on the government’s priority list for COVID-19 vaccines, the Supreme Court announced on Monday.
In a letter to the Judiciary, Acting Chief Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe said the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) has granted their request to include them in the priority population group A4 for the vaccination plan.
Related Stories
Frontline personnel are currently on the fourth spot on the priority list for vaccination, following medical frontline, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.
Bernabe said she wrote a letter-request to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on March 31 where she stated that justices, judges and court personnel of the Philippine Judiciary are “frontline government workers in the justice sector, whose functions are essential at all times, especially during the pandemic.”
“Truly, during this unsettling pandemic, upholding the rule of law assumes greater significance. Thurs, access to judicial relief should be constant,” she added.
SC spokesperson Brian Hosaka said the Judiciary’s inoculation program will cover permanent, coterminous and casual employees.
During the strict lockdowns in 2020, courts were forced to be physically closed although it assured the public that they can be reached through their hotlines, email addresses and even social media pages. The SC also said courts will remain open for urgent cases, including those that involve a person’s liberty, and for legal inquiries on government policies enforced to address the pandemic.
SPECIAL REPORT: Beyond arrest, raps: 'Quarantine violators' face trauma, COVID-19 risk too
As COVID-19 cases again surge to an alarming rate in March, the government reverted Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan and Laguna to enhanced community quarantine for two weeks, until April 11. Courts in these areas have been ordered physically closed during the said period, but hearings on urgent matters shall proceed.
Outside the “NCR Plus” bubble, work and government services resumed, but some courts are still affected and forced to be physically closed. On Monday alone, the SC listed courts from Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Oriental Mindoro and Tarlac for several days.
Vaccines arrival in April
Bernabe shared that in their letter to Galvez, they noted that Judiciary personnel should be considered as part of the essential public sector as they “‘directly client facing and cannot dutifully meet minimum public health standards,’ which circumstance is also accounted for under category A4.”
The acting chief justice added that the Judiciary continues in-court operations despite community quarantine enforcement and regularly interacts with stakeholders.
Bernabe said the SC will immediately work out the details of the implementation of the inoculation program. She said that NTF informed them that part of the vaccines arriving in April shall be partly allotted to the Judiciary.
The SC earlier said it has approved the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines for the nearly 30,000 officials and personnel of the Judiciary.
The Philippines rolled out its national vaccination program on March 1. Some cities in Metro Manila have moved to inoculation of senior citizens or those with comorbidity—A2 and A3 on the list—in March.
Mayors and governors in critical or high-risk areas were moved up to the priority list over the weekend and are now on the same level with medical frontliners.