The “alarming number of COVID-19 infections” among court personnel in areas under Alert Level 3 with heightened restrictions prompted the Supreme Court (SC), the appellate collegiate courts, and trial courts in these places to just keep skeleton workforce in their offices starting Monday, Jan. 10, until Jan. 14.
In the SC, Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo said the skeleton workforce reporting physically for work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday should be determined by heads of offices.
“The Justices shall determine the number and schedule of their staff who will be required to report for work onsite in their respective chambers,” Gesmundo said in a memorandum issued on Sunday, Jan. 9.
But the skeleton workforce “shall not apply to the Office of the Bar Chaire, Office of the Bar Confidant, and other offices involved in the preparation of the scheduled Bar Examinations (Jan. 23 and 25), Medical and Dental Services, and Security Division and Maintenance Division.”
The collegiate appellate courts – Court of Appeals (CA) in Manila, Sandiganbayan and Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) in Quezon City, will also maintain skeleton workforce in their offices starting Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The work operations in the collegiate appellate courts were issued by CA Presiding Justice Remedios A. Salazar Fernando, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje Tang, and CTA Presiding Justice Roman G. Del Rosario with the approval of Chief Justice Gesmundo.
Trial courts in the National Capital Region (NCR), in the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, and 14 other areas in the country are physically open starting Jan. 10 “on a limited basis confined only to transactions that are of urgent nature.
The trial courts in the 14 more areas are those in Baguio City in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); Dagupan City in Region 1; City of Santiago and Cagayan in Region 2; Angeles City, Bataan, Olongapo City, Pampanga and Zambales in Region 3; Batangas and Lucena City in Region 4-A; Naga City in Region 5; Iloilo City in Region 6; and Lapu-lapu City in Region 7.
The circular issued by Deputy Court Administrator Raul Bautista Villanueva stated that executive judges and presiding judges have the discretion “to determine the number of staff who need to report onsite.”
Trial court judges are allowed to conduct hearings via video conferencing. “Judges should ensure that pending matters with their court are attended to and expeditiously addressed.”