Philippines - Guidelines for the Pilot Testing of Videoconferencing Hearings of Criminal Cases Involving Persons Deprived of Liberty

1. The Supreme Court has issued OCA Circular No. 93-2020 (Implementation of Supreme Court Administrative Circular No. 37-2020 on the Pilot Testing of Hearings of Criminal Cases Involving Persons Deprived of Liberty through Videoconferencing) dated May 4, 2020 [13] prescribing the guidelines for the videoconference hearings of criminal cases involving persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
 
2. The circular provides for the following:
 
a. Videoconferencing hearings shall –
 
i. “only use the officially provided Philippine Judiciary 365 platform which has, among others, the Outlook application for the official e-mail accounts, and the Teams application to host the videoconferencing hearings.”
 
ii. “include all stages of trial of newly-filed and pending criminal cases … provided they pertain to urgent matters involving PDLs who are detained … awaiting their commitment to the proper jail facilities. An accused who is already out on bail or recognizance cannot avail of videoconferencing hearings.”
 
iii. be scheduled by the court. The parties shall be notified by the court through their respective email addresses.” The court must receive the electronic submissions of parties “at least three (3) days prior to the scheduled videoconferencing hearing.”
 
3. “If during the videoconferencing hearing, the judge issues or promulgates an order or decision, a copy thereof shall immediately be furnished the parties. The service of such order or decision to the parties may be done electronically through e-mail, but proof of receipt thereof should be properly recorded.”
 
4. To protect and uphold the rights of the accused, “the court shall ascertain that the concerned PDL understands that the hearing of his or her case is through videoconferencing.” The PDL and his or her counsel shall be allowed to confer separately at any time during the hearing. The judge may suspend the proceedings in case of any technical difficulties.

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