Leonen: SC offered rapid COVID-19 testing to NCR judges but some refused

The Supreme Court (SC) has offered rapid testing for COVID-19 to lower court judges in Metro Manila but some have refused, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said Wednesday.

"We have offered mass testing to our trial courts but it seems that they do not want to avail of it, and that to me is very strange because at the very least your duty to your people as well as to your personnel and the litigants and your families is to make sure that you get tested in order that you can take the proper precautions," Leonen said at a webinar.

"That is to me a very grave disappointment in terms of our lower court judges. kung ayaw, madaming dahilan, and here we are, the court already spending as much of its resources as possible to protect its personnel, and they do not want to take advantage of it," he said.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said a number of judges availed of rapid testing, which he said was voluntary. "Others maybe did not see the need because they had no symptoms," he said in a message to reporters.

Marquez said the testing was offered only to Metro Manila judges because the National Capital Region is the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

At the webinar organized by Court Appointments Watch, a judge from San Fernando, Pampanga who was tuned in, said they hope the SC will reconsider its decision not to test judges and court staff outside Metro Manila.

Leonen said he will relay the comment to his fellow justices.

"We want to do rapid testing of everybody but we also know that that will mean a large expenditure on our part, and of course that there are also efforts to try to coordinate with local governments that have the funds in order to be able to help us with rapid testing," he said.

SC employees returning to work undergo rapid testing, and 1,698 out of more than 2,700 personnel have been tested as of May 29. Leonen said the Court of Appeals is also testing its workers and that the Court of Tax Appeals and the Sandiganbayan may follow suit.

The rapid testing is one of the ways the judiciary has adjusted in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The health emergency has, at one point, prompted the physical closure of courts, with judges and staff only going to their respective stations to act on urgent matters.

Crucial court functions also had to shift online -- cases, applications for bail, and other pleadings were allowed to be filed electronically, and several courts were authorized to conduct hearings through videoconferencing.

Asked if online hearings are likely to become the general rule, Leonen said the SC would first have to evaluate the adjustments they have implemented during the pandemic. He said inputs from the public are welcome. — RSJ, GMA News