Work in NCR courts suspended amid transport strike — SC

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday announced that work in all first and second-level courts in the National Capital Region will be suspended in light of the ongoing nationwide transport strike.

According to the SC, operations will be suspended starting 2 p.m.

“Executive judges shall ensure that their stations, when necessary and predictable, have a sufficient skeleton workforce to act on urgent requests for bail, orders of release, writs of habeas corpus, and similar urgent reliefs,” the SC said.

It also directed that hotlines be maintained during the suspension.

Earlier, a coalition of transport groups started their two-day nationwide strike to protest rising fuel prices due to tensions in the Middle East.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a state of national energy emergency and ordered the adoption of a Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport for affected sectors.

Marcos has also signed into law the measure giving him emergency powers to suspend or reduce the excise tax rate on fuel. 

So far, 415 gas stations across the country are temporarily closed as of Wednesday morning amid the rising fuel prices, according to the police. — Joahna Lei Casilao/RSJ, GMA Integrated News