Office of the Clerk of Court - RTC Carigara, Leyte

02/09/2024

From September 1 to December 1, 2024, first-level and second-level courts all over the country will slowly transition to electronic filing for civil cases.

By September 1, 2024 all civil filings must include electronic versions of hard copies, or else the courts will not act on them.

Note the three S’s after the physical filing of civil pleadings in first- and second- level courts:

Step 1: SCAN each pleading, with annexes, or convert them to Portable Document Format (PDF).

Step 2: SAVE as separate files following these filename formats:
– [Pleading]-[Docket No.].pdf
– [Annex A]-[Pleading]-[Docket No.].pdf

Step 3: SEND via email:
– Subject: [Docket No.], [Case Title-Pleading Title]
– Body: (a) Primary manner of filing; (b) Filing date; (c) Docket number; (d) Case Title; (e) Filing Party; (f) Contact Numbers; (g) Other e-mail addresses; and (h) Titles of attachments.
– Send to the court’s official email address within 24 hours from the primary filing.
– Cc: all counsel and their law firms.
– Retain copy of transmittal email.

For more information, visit the eFiling microsite at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/electronic-filing/.

02/09/2024

Are you filing a civil case in a trial court?

The Philippine Judiciary is now going digital.

From September 1 to December 1 this year, first-level and second-level courts all over the country will slowly transition to electronic filing for civil cases.

By September 1, all civil filings must include electronic versions of hard copies, or else the courts will not act on them.

During the three-month transition period, each judicial region will be certified before they can start implementing a fully-electronic mode of filing.

The goal is that by December 1, electronic filing will be considered the only mode of filing, except for initiatory pleadings, which would still require hard copies.

To know more, visit the eFiling microsite at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/electronic-filing/

22/04/2024

Guidelines on Electronic Submission of Pleadings in Lower Courts

To address docket congestion and court delay, the primary filing of all pleadings and other court submissions in civil proceedings in lower courts shall be through electronic transmittal starting April 5, 2024.

This follows the approval by the Supreme Court En Banc of the Guidelines on Submission of Electronic Copies of Pleadings and Other Court Submissions Being Filed Before the Lower Courts Pursuant to the Efficient Use of Paper Rule (Guidelines).

The Guidelines govern the electronic transmittal of copies in Portable Document Format (PDF) of pleadings and other court submissions and their additional accompanying documents, such as annexes and exhibits, for filing in all cases covered by the 2019 Amendments to the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure before the following courts: Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals, and first- and second-level courts (“lower courts”).

The approval of the Guidelines is in line with the goal of the Supreme Court to digitally transform the courts under the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations for 2022-2027, which lays down the reform initiatives necessary toward achieving a technology-driven Judiciary.

Manner of Transmittal

Under the Guidelines, PDF copies of court submissions must be transmitted by litigants and court users to the official e-mail address of the court where the case is pending. Official court e-mail addresses may be accessed at the Supreme Court website at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/court-locator/.

The PDF copy may be electronically generated from a word-processing or PDF creation program, or be scanned images of the document compiled in a PDF file, or a combination of both methods. In all cases, the contents must be completely legible.

The filer must also ensure that the receiving court’s official e-mail address service will not reject or block a transmittal e-mail due to the file size of an attachment.

Date and Time of Filing

For cases where the primary manner of filing is through personal filing, by registered mail, or by accredited courier under Rule 13 of the 2019 Amendments to the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, the PDF copies must be transmitted within 24 hours from the filing of the paper copy. The date and time of filing of the paper copy shall be considered the date and time of filing.

For cases where the primary manner of filing is through electronic transmittal under Section 3(d), Rule 13 of the 2019 Amendments to the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, subsequent submission of a paper copy is no longer necessary. The date and time of the electronic transmittal shall be considered the date and time of filing.

However, the court must first grant express permission for the primary filing through electronic transmittal of: initiatory pleadings and initial responsive pleadings; accompanying documents not readily amendable to digitization to PDF; and sealed and confidential documents or records.

E-mail Address of Record

All filings by electronic transmittal must be made with any of the e-mail addresses of record of the filing party or counsel. Otherwise, the entire transmittal shall be deemed as not filed.

Counsels on record are required to use their professional e-mail accounts as their e-mail address of record. To preserve confidentiality, the Guidelines discourage the use by lawyers of personal, nonprofessional e-mail accounts as their e-mail addresses of record.

Counsels must also regularly and diligently monitor the inboxes of their e-mail address of record. They shall be subjected to disciplinary action should, to the detriment of the cause of their client, they neglect to check the inbox of their e-mail address of record or fail to notify the court of changes to their e-mail address of record under Section 11, Rule 13 of the 2019 Amendments to the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.

The Guidelines also provide rules on the manner of attachment of files, the prescribed filename for documents, the transmittal e-mail format, and the contents of the verified declaration, among others.

For a full text of the Guidelines, visit the Supreme Court website at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/10-3-7-sc-11-9-4-sc-guidelines-on-submission-of-electronic-copies-of-pleadings-and-other-court-submissions-being-filed-before-the-lower-courts-pursuant-to-the-efficient-use-of-paper-rule/

25/12/2023

“For us in the Judiciary, as the holiday season warrants reflection, we are similarly stirred to lead lives of service committed to fairness and empathy as guardians of the people’s rights, knowing that there can be no peace without justice.

We thus join the nation in celebration and in our common aspirations for justice and peace, guided by the timeless message of hope and renewal symbolized by the birth of Christ.

Merry Christmas.”

Read the 2023 Christmas Message of Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo.🎄

25/12/2023

Maligayang Pasko mula sa Kataas-taasang Hukuman ng Pilipinas! 🎄🎁

06/11/2023

Happy 67th Birthday to Hon. Alexander G.
Gesmundo, the 27th Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines!

Happy 67th Birthday to Hon. Alexander G.
Gesmundo, the 27th Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines!

Learn more about Chief Justice Gesmundo through his profile at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/chief-justice-alexander-g-gesmundo/.

31/10/2023

SC Reiterates that Courts May Allow Plea Bargaining Despite the Prosecution’s Objections |

The dividing line between prosecutorial prerogatives and judicial discretion is why courts may overrule objections on plea bargaining on certain groups.

Thus reiterated the Supreme Court’s Third Division in a Resolution penned by Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh granting the petition for review on certiorari filed by Erwin Alvero. The petition assailed the Decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) which had found that the Regional Trial Court of Roxas City, Branch 16 (RTC) acted with grave abuse of discretion when it accepted Alvero’s proposal for plea bargaining despite the prosecution’s objection.

The Court, in granting Alvero’s petition, found that no grave abuse of discretion was committed by the RTC. Applying its ruling in the 2022 case of People v. Montierro, the Court held that a trial court has the authority to allow plea bargaining even when the prosecution objects to the plea bargain and thus withholds consent.

The Court also held that the prosecutor's discretion is primarily about deciding whom to prosecute and what charges to bring, but the court's discretion comes into play in determining the case's outcome. Therefore, courts have the authority to overrule objections to plea bargaining, provided that such objections lack merit or infringe upon the court's exclusive constitutional prerogative. However, the Court made it clear that a court's authority to permit plea bargaining is not unlimited and should align with established rules and guidelines.

In Erwin Alvero's specific case, the Court found that his plea bargain proposal was in accordance with the Plea Bargaining Framework for drug cases, which specified acceptable plea bargains for various offenses. The Court however found that the RTC failed to show in its Decision that it assessed specific factors, particularly if (a) he is a recidivist, habitual offender, known in the community as a drug addict and a troublemaker, has undergone rehabilitation but had a relapse, or has been charged many times, or (b) the evidence of guilt is strong, in determining if it will grant Alvaro’s plea bargain. The case was thus remanded to the trial court to determine Alvero's eligibility for plea bargaining and the RTC was further mandated to hear the prosecution's objection and rule on the merits. If the RTC finds the prosecution's objection meritorious, it shall order the continuation of the criminal proceedings.

Read more at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/sc-reiterates-that-courts-may-allow-plea-bargaining-despite-the-prosecutions-objections/.

28/09/2023

28/09/2023

Attention: ALL NOTARIES PUBLIC IN THE TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION OF RTC CARIGARA, LEYTE

MEMORANDUM

TO: ALL COMMISSIONED NOTARIES PUBLIC WITHIN THE TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION OF THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURT, CARIGARA, LEYTE

RE: CREATION OF TASK FORCE HONESTO NOTARIO, COMPLIANCE WITH THE 2004 RULES ON NOTARIAL PRACTICE AND SUBMISSIONS OF MONTHLY REPORTS OF NOTARIAL ACTS OF NOTARIES PUBLIC