Raffle of new court cases suspended during public health emergency

The raffle of newly-filed cases is suspended during the period of public health emergency brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) said Friday.

New cases will be raffled "immediately" after the emergency period, according to a new circular by Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez.

For now, a designated judge-on-duty (JOD) will resolve only “urgent” matters.

Executive judges in multi-sala stations will consult with other judges in the station and schedule the rotation of judges and skeleton-staff who will be on duty for the day, according to the circular.

READ: OCA CIRCULAR NO. 89 – 2020 On the Implementation of SC AC 33-2020 on the Electronic Filing of Criminal Complaints and Informations, and Posting of Bails. The annexes referred herein will be posted once available. pic.twitter.com/dk6owY6bPf

— Supreme Court Public Information Office (PIO) (@SCPh_PIO) April 3, 2020

The JOD will determine whether pleadings filed — electronically, in accordance with an earlier instruction by Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta — are urgent and resolve them if they are.

Non-urgent matters will be referred either to the executive judge or, if the case had previously been raffled, to the judge handling it.

"Necessarily, the raffle of newly-filed cases during this public health emergency period is suspended," Marquez's new circular states.

This provision is included in the guidelines released by the OCA for the proper implementation of Peralta's administrative circular on the online filing of cases and posting of bail.

Pending the provision of an official Supreme Court-supplied account, the first- and second-level courts should each create an e-mail address to receive criminal complaints, informations, and other related court pleadings and submissions, according to the guidelines.

The payment of court fees is to be coursed through any branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The OCA circular also details the procedure for the posting of bail.

It states that an accused or his or her representative may e-mail the requirements for bail to the court for evaluation by the JOD, who may require additional proof or deny the application for bail.

“If the requirements for bail were electronically transmitted to the court, the original hard copies shall likewise be physically sent to the court before the release order, if warranted, is issued,” the circular reads.

It also states that the accused or his or her representative may request to be furnished certified true copies of the approval of bail and release order on the day they were issued.

These certified true copies will "be sufficient to cause the release of the accused" upon verification from the concerned clerk of court, according to the circular. -MDM, GMA News