[ OCA CIRCULAR NO. 01-2017, January 09, 2017 ]

[ OCA CIRCULAR NO. 01-2017, January 09, 2017 ]

[ OCA CIRCULAR NO. 01-2017, January 09, 2017 ]

TO : ALL JUDGES AND CONCERNED COURT PERSONNEL OF THE AFFECTED REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS

SUBJECT : SUBMISSION OF QUARTERLY REPORTS BY REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS ORDERED TO HEAR, TRY AND DECIDE DRUGS CASES

Pursuant to the 19 July 2016 Resolution of the Court en banc in A.M. No. 16-07-06-SC, 1 which ordered that all Regional Trial Courts .(RTCs), except family courts, overburdened RTCs, and specially- designated drugs courts exclusively hearing drugs cases pursuant to Republic Act No. 9165, 2 shall b,e raffled, hear, try and decide newly- filed drugs cases, and the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) to submit quarterly reports to the Court including the nature of drugs cases filed and the amount of drugs involved in each case, based on the reports submitted by the trial courts, the following guidelines in the submission of quarterly reports on drugs cases shall be observed:

1. All specially-designated drugs courts and courts in multiple-sala RTCs handling drugs cases shall submit a Quarterly Status Report of Drugs Cases Per Court Branch to their respective Executive Judges, through the Office of the Clerk of Court, using the attached Form 1-DC (Annex "A"), on or before the fifteenth (15 th) day of the month following every quarter.

2. Upon receipt of the reports, the Office of the Clerk of Court shall prepare a Summary Report of Drugs Cases Per Station using the attached Form 2-DC (Annex "A-1").

3. The Executive Judges of the multiple-sala RTCs shall submit the Summary Report of Drugs Cases Per Station to the OCA, through the Statistical Reports Division, Court Management Office (SRD-CMO), via personal delivery, mail or email at srdcmo-drugscases@sc.judiciary.gov.ph, at the end of the month following every quarter.

4. Judges of single-sala RTCs handling drugs cases shall likewise submit a Quarterly Status Report of Drugs Cases Per Court Branch using the attached Form 1-DC (Annex "A") and a Summary Report of Drugs Cases Per Station using the attached Form 2-DC (Annex "A-1"), to the OCA through the SRD-CMO, via personal delivery, mail or email at srdcmo-drugscases@sc.judiciary.gov.ph, at the end of the month following every quarter.

5. All assisting courts of specially-designated drugs courts shall likewise submit a Quarterly Status Report of Drugs Cases Per Court Branch of the drugs cases transferred to them to the Executive Judge concerned, through the Office of the Clerk of Court, using the attached Form 1-DC (Annex "A"), on or before the fifteenth (15 th) day of the month following every quarter.

6. The submission of the quarterly status and summary reports of drugs cases shall begin with the fourth (4 th) quarter of 2016 covering the period October - December 2016 and continue onwards, until otherwise suspended or stopped by the OCA or the Supreme Court.

7. All RTCs handling drugs cases shall furnish the OCA with copies of all orders, resolutions and decisions dismissing drugs cases, including provisional dismissals, dismissals on demurrer to evidence and acquittal of the accused, for the year 2016, and every month thereafter beginning January 2017, via personal delivery, mail or email at drugscases4oca@sc.judiciary.gov.ph, on or before the fifteenth (15 th) day of the next succeeding month, until otherwise suspended or stopped by the OCA or the Supreme Court.

For strict compliance.

9 January 2017

(SGD.) JOSE MIDAS P. MARQUEZ Court Administrator

1 Ordering 240 Other Regional Trial Courts to Hear, Try and Decide Newly-filed Cases under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, As Amended

2 Except in stations where the average caseload of the specially-designated drugs courts is lower than the average caseload of the other courts in those stations, all newly-filed drugs cases shall continue to be raffled to, heard and tried by specially-designated drugs courts in those stations.