SC: Court employees affected by airspace shutdown not deemed absent

Court employees who were unable to report to work due to the technical issue that closed the Philippine airspace will not be deemed absent, the Supreme Court said Wednesday.

In a memorandum order, the Court said they will not be considered absent provided that they can show they have confirmed flight bookings that would have brought them to their stations before January 3.

They must also be able to show that they immediately requested to have their flights rebooked following the technical issue but were not accommodated.

Further, they reported for the next workday upon their arrival.

“Court employees from outside of their stations or abroad were affected, causing them to miss workdays due to circumstances beyond their control,” the Supreme Court said.

“In view of this, court employees who were unable to report for work in their respective stations on or before January 9, 2023 shall not be considered absent,” it added.

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— Marvic Leonen — maroon check (@marvicleonen) January 4, 2023

On New Year’s Day, over 280 flights were canceled, diverted, or delayed as the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines recorded a technical issue at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center.

The system was partially restored on the same day.

According to transport officials, flight operations are expected to fully recover but billions of pesos' worth of upgrades are needed to prevent a repeat of this incident. — BM, GMA Integrated News