Duterte orders agencies to come up with guidelines on interruption of periods for filing documents, tax payments

April 23, 2020

President Rodrigo Dutrte has issued an administrative order directing all government offices to formulate and issue guidelines on the interruption of periods for the filing of documents, payment of taxes, charges and other fees, and cancellation of proceedings before their respective offices and on the movement of timelines for the release of benefits.

Duterte issued AO No. 30, signed on April 21, "to ease the social and economic burden of community quarantine."

He said the concerned agencies should immediately formulate and issue rules and guidelines to be applied in areas under community quarantine or to individuals coming from such areas.

Specifically, the concerned government agencies are directed to come up with the following;

Interruption of reglementary periods for the commencement of actions and claims; the filing of pleadings, appearances motions, notices, and all other papers; and the rendition of judgments, resolutions, and orders for the duration of the community quarantine;

Cancellation of proceedings and the rescheduling thereof after the lifting of community quarantine;

Acceptable justifications for the failure of litigants or their counsel, as well as claimants, to comply with reglementary periods or to appear at legal proceedings, if they are coming from jurisdictions where quarantine protocols restrict their movements;

Suspension of deadlines for the payment of monetary obligations and/or the submission of documents, for the duration of community quarantine; and

Movement of timelines for the grant of any benefit, to allow the release thereof to individuals during community quarantine.

However, the AO said the reglementary periods and proceedings for urgent cases which are necessary to enable the government to act expeditiously on matters affecting the current public health emergency shall not be interrupted or cancelled.

"The foregoing directive shall apply only in relation to areas where community quarantine was declared in accordance with the rules issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases or the Office of the President, until the date that the same is lifted by the same office that made the declaration, provided the lifting be also in accordance with the rules of the IATF or the Office of the President," the AO read.

The Order shall take effect immediately following its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. Celerina Monte/DMS