The Office of the Ombudsman's (OMB) headquarters in Quezon City will be closed from April 19 to May 2 for disinfection to prevent the spread of the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Last April 13, Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires said that 17 OMB employees have been infected with COVID-19 and seven of those were from his office.
OMB employees have been working from home since March 29. Last April 5 to 8, all OMB offices in Quezon City were disinfected, sanitized and cleaned on orders of Martires.
“In view of the announcement of the Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 placing the National Capital Region under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine for the period 12 to 30 April 2021, and the need to further disinfect several offices of the Ombudsman in Quezon City in order to ensure the safety of the employees, the Office will be CLOSED from 19 April 2021 to 02 May 2021,” the OMB said in a public advisory issued last Saturday, April 17.
During the period of disinfection, the OMB said all personnel will work from home.
Also, the OMB said that “the reglementary period for the filing of pleadings, motions, affidavits and other relevant documents before the Office of the Ombudsman, Quezon City shall be DEEMED INTERRUPTED, and the period of the filing of such shall begin to run again on 03 May 2021.”
“Corollary to this, the period of rendition of decisions, resolutions and orders shall be DEEMED INTERRUPTED for the same period and shall begin to run again on 03 May 2021,” it added.
The Supreme Court (SC) had also ordered the physical closure until April 30 of all courts in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ (MECQ) including its offices on Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila; the Sandiganbayan, Court of Appeals (CA) and Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).
Areas under MECQ declared by the national government are the National Capital Region (NCR), the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Abra and Quirino, and Santiago City in Isabela.
There are also areas where local government units (LGUs) imposed their localized ECQ and MECQ.
In Administrative Circular No. 22-2021 dated April 10, Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo said that essential judicial offices in all physically closed courts “shall maintain the necessary skeleton staff to attend to all urgent matters.”
Courts in ECQ and MECQ areas will continue to operate through video conferencing, and all physically closed courts may still be reached by the public through the judiciary hotlines and email addresses posted in the SC website – sc.judiciary.gov.ph.