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VIRTUAL HEARING One of the pilot courts holds a virtual hearing while the Philippines remains in various forms of confinement to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Photo courtesy of the Supreme Court
MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court has authorized all pilot courts across the country to hold virtual hearings on all matters, regardless of the type of allegations and the stage of the trial.
“All courts initially authorized to hear via videoconference only urgent matters in criminal cases involving persons deprived of liberty (PDL) they are now authorized to hear via videoconference all matters pending before them, both in criminal and civil cases, whether new or pending, and regardless of the stage of the trial, “said the President of the Supreme Court Diosdado Peralta in Administrative Circular No. 39-2020 aired on Thursday, May 14.
Peralta said that all courts in areas under Modified Community Enhanced Quarantine (MECQ), which stands for Metro Manila, Cebu City and Laguna, will remain physically closed until May 31.
All courts in Metro Manila and 70 others across the country are pilot courts for virtual hearings. These include 3 courts in Laguna and Cebu City. (READ: ‘The digital court is not that far away’)
“Videoconference hearings, in both criminal and civil cases, will be held by joint motion of the parties or by order of the court, which will schedule such videoconference hearings,” said Peralta.
Here are the courts empowered to hold virtual hearings for all matters, regardless of the stage of the trial: pic.twitter.com/zChwwkWoBv
– Lian Buan (@lianbuan) May 14, 2020
The Supreme Court has its own Philippine Judiciary 365, which has video conferencing and email features. Judges, lawyers, litigants, and jail officials must not use any platform other than 365.
This is in effect as long as there is a state of public health emergency, or until the Supreme Court lifts it.
Court hearings
For courts not authorized to hold virtual hearings, court hearings are permitted provided hygiene protocols, such as wearing masks and physical distance, are followed.
But court hearings are still limited to “urgent matters and other concerns to speed up procedures, both in criminal and civil cases. “
The deadline for all allegations to be filed on or before May 31 has been extended to another 30 calendar days from June 1, the Supreme Court said.
“But the parties can still file pleadings and other court filings within the statutory period no later than May 31, 2020 through electronic means, if they prefer and they can,” the Supreme Court said.
Night courts and Saturday courts in the MECQ areas are still suspended.
Civil weddings are now also allowed under ECQ and General Community Quarantine (GCQ) as long as the attendees do not exceed 5 people, as that is the limit for meetings established by the national government.
These are adjustments for the Supreme Court in a pandemic policy that it had seen 48,132 people arrested at the scene for violating quarantine rules, according to police data as of May 11.
Prisoners
Of that number, 36,000 have been charged in court; 12,132 are being processed and 2,235 remain in jail.
Released prisoners have also been affected, but the Supreme Court said that detention centers across the country have released 9,731 prisoners from March 17 to April 29.
However, there was a discrepancy with Malacañang because he informed the Congress of the Prison Management and Penology Office (BJMP) that only 4,188 prisoners were released from March 17 to April 30.
Supreme Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said the disparity, or more than half of SC’s data, was from people who were detained at non-BJMP facilities or by police and other police stations.
A part of that number were people arrested during the closure.
“There were PDLs arrested during this period who were no longer turned over or committed to BJMP facilities and remained in the custody of law enforcement agencies, as requested by BJMP from the Police and Courts,” Hosaka said.
“They may also be PDLs who are already in the custody of the Police and other law enforcement agencies before the closure of BJMP, and remained so until they were finally released by the courts during that period from March 17 to April 29. Hosaka added.
A petition for the humanitarian release of vulnerable and low-risk prisoners is still pending before the Supreme Court. – Rappler.com
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