Supreme Court OKs guidelines on community service penalty for minor offenses

The Supreme Court (SC) has approved the guidelines on the imposition of community service as a penalty for people convicted of minor offenses.

The court approved the guidelines on October 6, more than a year after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Community Service Act into law. The guidelines will take effect on November 2.

Meant to promote restorative justice and jail decongestion, the law gives courts the discretion to impose community service instead of a jail term for offenses that are punishable by arresto menor (one day to 30 days) and arresto mayor (one month and one day to six months).

Under the SC guidelines, judges who sentence a person to suffer the penalty of arresto menor or arresto mayor are required to inform the convict in open court that they have an option to render community service in the place where the crime was committed.

Judges should also explain, however, that the convict cannot apply for community service or probation if they choose to appeal the conviction, the SC Public Information Office (PIO) said.

Applications for community service must be filed within the period to file an appeal and be resolved within five days of the filing; the court must set a hearing to issue its ruling.

Once the court receives the application, it should immediately notify the barangay chairperson or authorized representative of the barangay where the crime was committed; a representative from the provincial or city probation office, and the local government unit's social welfare development officer.

In deciding whether to allow community service, courts must consider the gravity of the offense, the circumstances of the case, the welfare of the society, and a "reasonable probability" that the person would not violate the law while rendering the service.

The unjustified absence of the convict at the hearing will be a ground to deny their application and prompt the issuance of a warrant of arrest against them, according to the SC PIO.

The court's decision on an application for community service is not appealable.

The SC PIO said it will make public a copy of the guidelines once it is available. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/RSJ, GMA News