Special session canceled; no updates on 2019 Bar results yet

In a message to reporters, SC spokesperson Brian Hosaka added that there are no updates yet on the release of the 2019 Bar examination results or possible adjustments for the 2020 bar examinations usually held in November. (File Photo By Aerous – Own work/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA – The special session of the Supreme Court (SC) originally scheduled for Wednesday has been canceled, its spokesperson said Tuesday.

In a message to reporters, SC spokesperson Brian Hosaka added that there are no updates yet on the release of the 2019 Bar examination results or possible adjustments for the 2020 bar examinations usually held in November.

Courts throughout the country remain closed following the extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) by President Rodrigo Duterte until the end of April.

In an earlier memorandum to associate justices dated March 26, Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta suspended the SC’s summer session in Baguio City originally scheduled from April 12 to May 1.

Peralta noted the surge of the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country had led to the declaration of a state of public health emergency and state of calamity.

The temporary physical closure of all courts nationwide took effect on March 23.

Despite the closure, courts are functioning and are mandated to accept the online filing of all cases – criminal, commercial, and family – and petitions and posting of bail during the period of a health emergency.

Justices and trial court judges – while working from home — have been directed to immediately evaluate and act on the cases filed online.

A skeletal staff is required to report to the court offices only to act on urgent cases, particularly those filed in connection with the implementation of the ECQ.