NCR courts, except SC, stay physically closed until Sept. 30

MANILA – Metro Manila courts, with the exception of the Supreme Court (SC), have been directed by Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo to remain physically closed until the end of the month.

“In view of the continued surge of confirmed Covid-19 cases in different variants, and considering that the proposed granular or localized lockdown will be pilot-tested in the National Capital Region (NCR)”, courts in the National Capital Region shall continue to operate online and conduct videoconferencing hearings on pending cases “as far as practicable” to prevent delay in the trial of cases and court processes, the circular read.

Filing and service of pleadings and motions is suspended until Sept. 30 and shall resume after seven calendar days from the first day of the physical reopening of the court.

Essential offices shall maintain a skeleton staff to enable them to address urgent matters.

From Sept. 8 to 30, NCR will be under general community quarantine and will pilot-test granular lockdowns that will have different alert levels depending on case transmission.

On July 30, offices in the SC were ordered physically closed from Aug. 2 to 20 to support the government’s effort to arrest the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant through the declaration of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in NCR.

After the downgrade to modified ECQ (MECQ) on Aug. 21, SC announced the physical reopening of its offices starting Aug. 23 but with a reduced work force.

In a subsequent directive to all justices of the appellate collegiate courts as well as judges of the second and first level courts, Gesmundo ordered that all courts in the NCR, except in the SC, will remain closed for the duration of the MECQ.

Following the extension of MECQ on Sept. 1 to 7, the SC said “there is a need to reduce to the barest minimum the number of employees reporting to the SC” while a number of staff may be required to report, including the Medical and Dental Services employees like ambulance drivers.