Hundreds flock to a vaccination hub at People’s Park in Davao City on Wednesday (5 January 2022) for booster shots as health officials are alarmed with the increase in COVID-19 cases just after the holidays and with the threat posed by the Omicron variant. Mindanews Photo
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 January) – The Regional Trial Court (RTC)-Branch 8 in Davao City has been closed from January 27 until February 4 after a court employee tested positive for COVID-19.
Deputy Court Administrator Tolentino Madrazo, in a memorandum dated January 26, granted the request of RTC-Branch 8 presiding Judge Glenn DC. Aquino for a physical closure of the court after a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test confirmed the infection.
Citing protocols provided under the Office the Court Administrator Circular No. 101-2020 released on June 30, 2020, Madrazo said the 14-day quarantine of exposed workers must begin from January 21, when the infected worker last reported for work.
“The reckoning period of the 14-day closure of the concerned court which was exposed to the confirmed COVID-19 case is the last day of exposure of the latter to the rest of the office personnel, and not the date of the confirmation of the result,” the Circular says.
Under Alert Level 3, Madrazo said that the courts are directed to be physically closed “but concerned courts may attend to transactions that are of urgent nature with only the barest minimum number of personnel without the slightest symptoms of COVID-19 infection reporting on-site, as determined by the concerned Executive Judge/Presiding Judge.”
The city has been placed under Alert Level 3 from January 14 to 31, following the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
“The physical closure of Branch 8, RTC, Davao City until 31 January 2022 by reason of Davao City’s Alert Level 3 status is hereby noted. The extension of the physical closure of the court until 04 February 2020 on the further ground that an employee thereof tested positive for COVID-19 is hereby granted,” Madrazo said.
He said court operations shall be on a work-from-home arrangement and court hearings shall be conducted through fully-remote videoconferencing until the physical closure is lifted.
He said all inquiries on cases and transactions, including requests for documents and services, shall initially be coursed and acted through the hotline number/s and Judiciary 365 Account while initiatory pleadings, in both civil and criminal cases, including criminal complaints, information, and applications for bail, and other court submissions on pending cases may be filed via email.
“As a reminder, during the period where the court employees are on work-from-home arrangement, they are strictly advised not to leave their residences during office hours and loiter around so as not to expose themselves to the virus. Imposition of disciplinary actions on erring employees will be recommended to the Court,” he added. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
