Supreme Court, Court of Appeals reopen for on-site work

MANILA, Philippines — Offices in the Supreme Court (SC) and Court of Appeals (CA) will be operational beginning tomorrow, but with only 50 percent of their employees reporting for on-site work.

In a one-page memorandum issued yesterday, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said on-site work would be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. only from Monday to Friday.

“All offices, divisions and units in the SC will be operational, with one-half of the workforce reporting on-site on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the other half reporting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” the memorandum read. “Employees who are not scheduled to report to the office should work from home for two days.”

As a safety measure, Gesmundo ordered employees who would physically report for work to undergo antigen tests before proceeding to their respective offices.

CA Presiding Justice Remedios Salazar-Fernando announced that the working hours for employees of the appellate court would be from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Those assigned at the medical and dental division, security services, judicial records department, general services division and finance group may avail themselves of a different work setup because they might require more personnel to report on-site.

“Antigen testing will continue for returning employees who have yet to be tested and who have yet to physically report to work while the National Capital Region was placed under Alert Level 3,” Fernando said.

Sandigan resumes operations

Starting tomorrow, the Sandiganbayan will resume on-site operations after almost a month of closure due to the increased number of employees infected with COVID-19.

Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang ordered the reopening of the anti-graft court’s building in Quezon City from Monday to Friday on a skeletal workforce.

Gesmundo approved the reopening of the Sandiganbayan building after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases downgraded Metro Manila to Alert Level 2 from Level 3 beginning today. – Elizabeth Marcelo