By Rey Panaligan All courts in the country, except those in areas under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), are open starting Monday, May 18, and will be manned by skeleton staff from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday to Friday until May 29. Except for Metro Manila, the province of Laguna and Cebu City – areas under MECQ -- all other areas in the country have been placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) starting Saturday, May 16 until May 31. In a circular, Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta said inquiries on pending cases and requests for documents in areas under GCQ will be coursed and acted upon only through the hotline numbers, email addresses or Facebook accounts of all courts posted in the Supreme Court (SC) website, sc.judiciary.gov.ph. Earlier on May 14, the SC had announced that courts in areas under MECQ are still physically closed until May 31. The filing of cases and pleadings will be accepted online in MECQ areas and hearings of important and urgent cases, particularly those involving persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and those related to the community quarantine – will be conducted via video conferencing. The list of trial courts which have been authorized to conduct video conferencing can also be viewed at the SC website. Peralta said that “no walk-in requests shall be entertained by any of the branches or offices of the courts in the GCQ areas.” “Justices, judges and court personnel with medical conditions making them vulnerable to be easily infected by Covid-19 may work from home, provided court personnel who will do so will have the prior approval of the justice or judge,” he said in the circular. The circular on GCQ court also stated: “Pleadings and other court submissions on pending cases may be electronically filed directly with the branch where the case is pending if the said branch has an official email address. Otherwise, the pleadings and other court submissions on pending cases may be filed electronically with the Office of the Clerk of Court, which shall forward the said transmissions to the branches where the cases are pending. “All the courts in the GCQ areas shall continue to resolve and decide all the cases pending before them. “The hearings, either in-court or through videoconferencing, of all the matters pending before them, in both criminal and civil cases, whether newly-filed or pending, and regardless of the stage of the trial, are now herein authorized. The justices and judges shall see to it that the counsels and parties are duly notified of the in-court hearings to ensure their attendance. “In all the in-court hearings in the GCQ areas, the health hygiene protocols and other public medical standards, e.g., wearing of face masks and face shields, subjecting everyone to a no-contact thermal scanning, and observance of social distancing shall be strictly observed. “In all the videoconferencing hearings in the GCQ areas, the justices or judges shall preside from the courtrooms or chambers at all times, unless in exceptional circumstances where the justice or judge may preside from home.” Read more: Courts in MECQ areas remain physically closed