For 2nd time, Marawi City’s Justice Hall ordered closed for 14 days

ILIGAN CITY –– For the second time, authorities opted to close Marawi City’s Hall of Justice (HOJ) building–this time for 14 days–to give way to its intensive disinfection after a lawyer and an old-timer who roamed around the premises tested positive for COVID-19.

Executive Judge Wenida Papandayan ordered the 14-day closure and for employees to work from home after a “senior citizen” male lawyer who appeared for his case at the Shariah District Court on August 27 roamed around the building before he learned he was infected.

The 14-day closure took effect on Monday, September 7.

The lawyer has been symptomatic with pneumonia and has recently been admitted to a hospital, according to Papandayan.

The results of his swab samples came out on Sunday, September 6, confirming his COVID-19 infection.

“Every time he comes to the Hall of Justice, it has been his practice to roam around and pass by different courts and offices. He was a former chapter president of the IBP (Integrated Bar of the Philippines),” Papandayan said.

The 14-day closure of the HOJ building had been approved by the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) for Mindanao Leo Tolentino Madrazo.
OCA Circular No. 101-2020 ordered all judges and court personnel to observe proper health guidelines to stop the spread of COVID-19 cases.

This was the second time for court officials to close the HOJ building because of threats of spreading the COVID-19 infection.

In August, the building was closed for four days after the husband of an employee of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) contracted the disease. The husband was a regular dialysis patient at Amail Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City, where he was exposed to a COVID-19 patient.

Since the first closure, HOJ adopted more stringent health protocols. It stopped receiving walk-in inquiries, requests, and transactions, but instead, asked litigants, counsels, and court users to relay their requests through mobile phones, email addresses, and social media accounts to minimize possible exposure.

LZB