The Supreme Court (SC) has allowed the grant of financial assistance ranging from P15,000 to P50,000 to trial court judges and personnel who got sick, hospitalized, and died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez said the financial assistance – approved by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo with the concurrence of all SC justices -- will be granted to employees affected by COVID-19 “from March 2020 until the current pandemic ends.”
In a circular, Marquez said the P15,000 assistance is for judges and employees who suffered mild to moderate illness; P30,000 for those who had critical illness that required -- among other processes -- invasive ventilation, extracorporeal oxygenation or renal replacement therapy; and P50,000 to those who died due to COVID-19 whether hospitalized or not.
It was not known immediately how many judges and trial court personnel are or had been affected by COVID-19.
Neither was it known if the same financial assistance would also be given to justices and other court officials and employees in the SC, Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals and Sandiganbayan.
To avail themselves of the assistance, qualified judges and employees must submit to the Financial Management Office of the Office of the Court Administrator (FMO-OCA) these documents:
- Result of RT-PCR test (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction) that shows positive result from March 20, 2020.
- Medical certificate stating the clinical findings of the illness caused by COVID-19.
- Death Certificate that the judge or the employee died of COVID-19 or complications due to COVID-19.
The circular stated that documents may be sent online to caresubsidy.oca.gov.ph for expeditious processing but the assistance would be released upon receipt of the hard copies of the documents.
OCA, which Marquez heads, supervises for the SC all lower courts in the country.