SC opens all offices on May 3
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has opened all its offices on Monday, while premises of lower courts in National Capital Judicial Region remain closed until the lifting of the modified enhanced community quarantine status in Metro Manila.
This also means that the seven-day extension for filing of pleadings and motions while the SC was physically closed shall start on May 3.
In a one-page advisory from the SC’s Office of the Clerk of Court, the tribunal said its offices “shall be open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on May 3, 2021 to May 14, 2021.”
The SC previously suspended the period for filing and service of pleadings when it ordered the physical closure of its premises under MECQ status in April.
“[Y]ou are hereby informed that the seven-day extension under previous issuances for the filing and service pleadings, motions and other court submissions with the Supreme Court shall start on May 3, 2021,” it added.
Even with the opening of SC premises on Monday, the resumption of oral arguments on the petitions against Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 shall continue via videoconferencing.
SC justices will continue their interpellation of government lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General on their defense of the law on Tuesday.
Other courts in MECQ areas meanwhile shall remain physically closed until May 14 but proceedings on cases, whether urgent or not, shall continue through videoconferencing.
Courts in localities under General Community Quarantine and Modified GCQ, meanwhile, shall be physically open during the same period and shall operate with a workforce of at least 25%.
Officials and personnel of the Judiciary, as well as litigant lawyers, have been included in the government’s A4 vaccination priority category along with other frontliners in essential sectors.
The SC has also recently approved financial assistance of P15,000 to P50,000 for lower court personnel who died or contracted COVID-19 and were hospitalized.
- Latest
- Trending
