[ ADMINISTRATIVE CIRCULAR NO. 39-2006, April 19, 2006 ]

[ ADMINISTRATIVE CIRCULAR NO. 39-2006, April 19, 2006 ]

[ ADMINISTRATIVE CIRCULAR NO. 39-2006, April 19, 2006 ]

TO: Executive Judges and Clerks of Court of the Regional Trial Courts and Metropolitan Trial Courts of Quezon City and Makati City

RE: eAssessment arid eCashiering

Pursuant to the resolution of the Court, dated March 14, 2006, issued in A.M. No. 05-8-15-SC (Re: Draft Terms of Reference for the E-Payment Project with the Land Bank of the Philippines), approving the Memorandum of Agreement, as revised, entered into by and between the Office of the Court Administrator, Supreme Court and the Land Bank of the Philippines on March 22, 2006, the following guidelines are hereby prescribed:

I. SYSTEM OVERVIEW

The whole Supreme Court Electronic Payment (SCEP) System is composed of eAssessment, Cashiering, ePayment and some other supplementary transactions that may aid in report generation and monitoring by the Supreme Court.

The entire System will be implemented in two (2) phases:

Phase 1 - e Assessment and eCashiering, and Phase 2 - e Payment.

II. SCOPE

The procedure in the pilot implementation of the first phase of the SCEP in the Regional Trial Courts (RTC) and Metropolitan Trial Courts (MeTC) of Quezon City and Makati City shall be as follows:

A. Assessment of the legal fees for filing of cases B. Docketing of cases C. Receipt oi payment of the legal fees D. Receipt of pleading E. Other transactions F. End of daiy processing

III. OBJECTIVES

A. To define and standardize the procedures to be observed in the implementation of the SCEP, and

B. To comply with existing Rules and other Court Issuances on the collection of legal fees.

IV. SUMMARY OF FUNCTIONS

A. Filing of Cases

1. Assessor (designated personnel of the Office of the Clerk of Court)

a. Receives initiatory pleadings from litigant/lawyer b. Fills up the electronic Assessment Form (Assessment Form), indicating therein the following information:

1. Name of plaintiff/complainant/petitioner 2. Nature of case 3. Amount of damages prayed for 4. Amount of every payable legal fee or fund

c. Prints a copy of the filled-up eAssessment Form d. Puts a stamp "ASSESSED" on the first and last pages of the pleading indicating therein the assessment reference number, date of assessment, period of validity of assessment with his/her initials e. Returns the pleading to the litigant/lawyer, together with a copy of the eAssessment Form

2. Cashier (designated personnel of the Office of the Clerk of Court)

a. Receives the eAssessment Form the litigant/lawyer b. Secures a docket number for the case from the Judicial Records Officer c. Receives payment of docket fees, either in cash or in cashier's or manager's check d. Encodes the docket number and the payment details based on the entries in the eAssessment Form e. Assigns an Official Receipt (OR) Number f. Prints the OR in four (4) copies g. Puts a stamp "PAID" on the first page of the pleading indicating therein the date and the amount of payment and the OR number with his/her initials

3. Judidial Records Officer (designated personnel of the Office of the Clerk of Court)

a. Checks the pleading for compliance with procedural requirements b. Assigns a docket number to the case c. Makes corresponding entries in the docket book d. Receives the pleading from the litigant/lawyer e. Puts a stamp ''RECEIVED" on the upper right-hand ner of the first page of the pleading, indicating therein the date and time of receipt with his/her initials

4. Clerk of Court

Exercises over-all supervision

B . Other Transactions (e.g. issuance of certifications, transcript of stenographic notes, etc.)

1. Assessor

Refer to Item A no. 1-(a) to (e) insofar as applicable

2. Cashier

Refer to Item A no. 2-(a) to (h) insofar as applicable

C. End of Day Processing

Cashier

1. At the end of the day after closing time, generates the following reports:

a. Summary of Collections per Cashier b. Summary of Collections c. Total Collections per Cashier per Fund d. Detailed Collections

2. At the end of the month after closing time, generates the following monthly reports after generating the daily reports:

a. Report of Collections for the Month b. Collections and Deposit Report

V. PROCEDURES

A. StartingtheSCEP

Assessor/Cashier

1. On the desktop of the user, open Internet Explorer 2. In the address field of Internet Explorer, type "http://server_name/SCEP" where server_name is the cornputer name of the server where the application resides, (i.e. h ttp://scepserver/SCEP) 3. After Login Screen appears, enter User ID and Password, then click OK 4. If both User ID and Password are valid, the SCEP Explorer will be displayed

B. Assessment of Docket Fees

Assessor

1. From the SCEP Explorer, double-click the "Assessment (Setup)" item under "Assessment" folders the transaction

2. Access the transaction

3. In the Assessment Setup transaction, enter mandatory data, such as name of party, purpose of payment, mature of action and the assessed amounts for each of the following funds:

a. Special Allowance for the Judiciary (SAJ) b. Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) c. Philippine Mediation Fund Rule 141 d. Philippine Mediation Trust Fund e. Legal Research Fund f. Land Registration Fund g. Victim's Compensation Fund

4. Click Save button to generate the assessment reference number and save the details entered (Details can be modified gas the status of the assessment is new.) Submit button to submit the record for payment. 5. Click Submit button to submit the record for payment 6. Print copy eAssessment Form (Annex "A") 7. Repeat nos. (1) to (6) for the following funds:

a. Fiduciary Fund b. Sheriff's Trust Fund

8. Put a stamp "ASSESSED" on the first and last pages of the pleading, initial and indicate therein the assessment reference number, the date assessment and the period of validity of assessment.

C. Docketing

Judicial Records Officer

1. Check the pleading for compliance with procedural requirements 2. Assign a docket number to the case 3. Make the corresponding entries in the docket book

D. Receipt of Payment of Docket Fees

Cashier

1. From the SCEP Explorer, double-click the "Payment Acceptance" item under "Payment" folder 2. Accept the transaction 3. In the Payment Acceptance transaction, specify the assessment reference number to which the payment will be applied 4. Retrieve assessments details by either -

a. Entering the assessment reference number in the Assessment Ref No field then Clicking Lookup button or b. Clicking the Lookup button to open the assessments lookup window where all assessment records with status 'For Payment' is displayed. Select from the list and double-click on the selected row or select the row and then click Select button.

5. Enter the name of the payor, the OR number indicated in the single OR and the case number 6. Specify payment details for each fund

a. Each fund can have different payment types such as cash or check

1) For the Quezon City RTC and MeTC - Payment shall be made either in cash, cashier's or manager's check. 2. For the Makati City RTC and MeTC - Payment shall be made as follows:

a) In cash, cashier's or manager's check, if the fee for a particular fund is not more than P10,000.00;and, b) Depending on the payment type, the Reference Number can refer to different references.

7. Click Accept button to finalize the payment and prepare the payment for OR printing. 8. Print the OR.

a. Check if the OR number displayed in the payment record screen is the same as the number of the OR to be inserted in the printer b. Insert single OR in four (4) copies in the printer, click Print OR button to start print job, confirm the OR number and OR (Annex "B") will be printed c. In case the OR cannot be printed online, it shall be manually issued and shall be recorded in the system

9. Repeat nos. (1) to (8) for the following funds:

a. Fiduciary Fund b. Sheriff's Trust Fund

10. Put a stamp "PAID" on the first page of the pleading, intital and indicate the date, the amount of payment and th OR number

E. Receipt of Pleading

Judicial Records Officer

Put a stamp "RECEIVED" on the upper right-hand corner of the first of the pleading, initial and indicate therein the date and time of receipt

F. Other Transactions

Assessor

Refer to Item B. nos. (1) to (6) insofar as applicable

Cashier

Refer to Item D. nos. (1) to (8) insofar as applicable

G. End of Day Processing

Cashier

1. Daily Reports

a. At the end of the day after closing time, generate the following daily reports:

1) Summary of Collections per Cashier 2) Summary of Collections 3) Total Collections per Cashier per Fund 4) Detailed Collections

b. From the Menu Explorer, double-click the "Report/Inquiry" folder c. Double-click the "Reports" transaction to open the Report List Screen d. From the list of reports, select the desired report then click the Preview button to generate the report e. The following supporting daily reports can be generated ad hoc:

1) Report of Collections - SAJ 2) Report of Collections - JDF 3) Detailed Collections - Fiduciary Fund (Report of Collections - Fiduciary Fund) 4) Report of Collections for the Day - Detailed per Fund 5) Report of Collections for the Day - Detailed (All Funds)

2. Monthly Reports

a. At the end of the month after closing time, generate the following monthly reports after the generating the daily reports:

1) Report of Collections for the Month 2) Collection and Deposit Report

b. The following supporting monthly report can be generated ad hoc:

Monthly Report of Collections per Fund - Details

VI. BACK-UP PROCEDURES

In the event of systems failure due to (a) disconnection of DSL/Internet connection, (b) power failure or interruption, (c) computer breakdown, or (d) application system breakdown, the following procedures shall be observed:

A. Assessment of Docket Fees

Upon receipt of the initiatory pleading, the assessor shall:

1. issue a temporary assessment number; 2. fill out manually the temporary assessment form; 3. enter into a logbook the data from the temporary assessment form; 4. put a stamp "ASSESSED" on the first and last pages of the pleading, initial and indicate therein the assessment reference number, the date of assessment and the period of validity of assessment; and, 5. return the pleading together with the temporary assessment form to the litigant.

B. Docketing

Upon receipt of the temporary assessment form and the pleading, the judicial records officer shall:

1. check the pleading for compliance with procedural requirements; 2. assign a docket number to the case; and, 3. make the corresponding entries in the docket book.

C. Receipt of Payment of Docket Fees

Upon receipt of the temporary assessment form and the pleading, the cashier shall:

1. encode manually in a temporary OR (using the OR issued to the clerk of court by the Supreme Court stamped "PROVISIONAL") in three (3) copies the payment details appearing in the temporary assessment form; 2. receive the amount of docket fees, either in cash or in casheir's or manager's check; 3. put a stamp "PAID" on the first page of the pleading, initial and indicate the date, the amount of payment and the provisional receipt number; 4. issue the second duplicate copy of the provisional receipt and return the pleading to the litigant/lawyer; and, 5. enter the details of the payment in the logbook.

E. Return to SCEP

Once the SCEP is operational again -

1. The assessor shall enter sequentially all data from the logbook into the system.

2. The cashier shall:

a. enter sequentially all data from the logbook, including the provisional receipt number, into the system; b. print out and OR in four (4) copies, with the original copy to be given to the litigant/lawyer; and, c. attach the provisional receipt to the OR and the monthly report to be submitted to the Supreme Court.

The Court Administrator shall cause the full and effective implementation of this Administrative Circular and shall regularly monitor its compliance by those concerned.

This Administrative Circular shall take effect upon its issuance.

Issued this 19th day of April, 2006.

(Sgd)ARTEMIO V. PANGANIBAN

Chief Justice