SC orders courts shut down starting Monday

March 20, 2020

Supreme Court Chief Justice Diosdado  Peralta on Friday ordered the indefinite physical shutdown of all courts nationwide starting Monday, March 23 due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

“All courts nationwide, from the Supreme Court down to the first level courts, shall be physically closed to all court users and may be reached only through their respective hotlines, and email addresses and Facebook accounts, if available, effective 23 March 2020, Monday,” Peralta said in a circular.

Peralta also advised the litigants, lawyers, prosecutors and the general public to first call the proper court through its hotline, or access it through its email address or Facebook account, if available, “wherein it shall be determined if the matter being raised is urgent.”

“If urgent, only then will the justice or judge on-duty, together with the skeleton-staff, go to court to receive and act on the said urgent matter,” the circular stated.

The SC also required that all calls and messages shall be entertained from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday to Friday.

“Accordingly, all justices and judges on-duty, together with their skeleton staff, must stay at their respective residences, and shall only go to their courts once it has been determined that an urgent matter has to be acted upon. Otherwise, they need not go to their courts,” he stressed.

“Law enforcement agents are strongly advised to let our justices, judges and their respective skeleton-staff pass through checkpoints as they all likewise have a constitutional mandate to perform,” the circular said.

The SC’s PIO will upload in the High Court’s website – sc.judiciary.gov.ph – the hotlines, and available email addresses and Facebook accounts of all courts nationwide. DMS