The Internal Rules of the Supreme Court

November 10, 2015

EN BANC

A.M. No. 10-4-20-SC

THE INTERNAL RULES OF THE SUPREME COURT

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Section 3, paragraph (c), Rule 1 of The Internal Rules of the Supreme Court (Rules) directs the Committee on Internal Rules of the Supreme Court (Committee) to recommend to the Court en banc the amendment, revision, or deletion of any of the Rules to reflect and achieve the objectives of justice, fairness and efficiency;

WHEREAS, the Committee, in its meeting on July 24, 2015, resolved to recommend certain amendments to the Rules;

WHEREAS, after due deliberation, the Court en banc approved the proposed amendments, subject to the modification in Section 5 of Rule 2 that deliberation on a case shall be deferred to another date upon request of an absent regular Member of a Division, or that said Member shall be allowed to leave his or her vote pursuant to Section 4 of Rule 12.

NOW, THEREFORE, the Court Resolved to APPROVE the following amendments to the Rules: CAIHTE

1. RULE 2, SECTION 3 (1)

SEC. 3. Court en banc matters and cases. — The Court en banc shall act on the following matters and cases:

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(I) subject to Section 12 (b) of this rule, other division cases that, in the opinion of at least three Members of the Division who are voting and present, are appropriate for transfer to the Court en banc, provided that before a decision is rendered, any member of the Division may request the Court en banc to take cognizance of cases that fall under paragraph (m);

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3. RULE 2, SECTION 5

SEC. 5. Composition and quorum of a Division. — Unless the Court en banc decrees otherwise, a quorum shall consist of a majority of all the Members of the Division, provided that deliberation on a case shall be deferred to another date upon request of an absent regular Member of a Division, or that said Member shall be allowed to leave his or her vote pursuant to Section 4 of Rule 12.

4. INSERTION OF AN ADDITIONAL SECTION IN RULE 2 DEFINING THE WORD 'VACANCY' AS USED IN THE RULES AND THE CONSEQUENT RE-NUMBERING OF THE SUCCEEDING SECTIONS

SEC. 6. Vacancy. — Vacancy as used in these Rules shall refer to vacancy due to retirement, death, permanent disability, removal from office, resignation of a Member of the Court.

5. RULE 2, SECTION 7 [TO BE RE-NUMBERED AS SECTION 8]

SEC. 8. Resolutions of motions for reconsideration or clarification of decisions or signed resolutions and all other pleadings, motions and incidents subsequently filed; creation of a Special Division. — Motions for reconsideration or clarification of a decision or of a signed resolution, and all other pleadings, motions and incidents subsequently filed in the case, shall be acted upon by the ponente and the other Members of the Division that rendered the decision or signed resolution.

If the ponente has retired, is no longer a Member of the Court, is disqualified, or has inhibited himself or herself from acting on the motion for reconsideration or clarification, or on any other pleading, motion and incident subsequently filed, he or she shall be replaced through raffle by a new ponente who shall be chosen among the Members of the Division who participated in the rendition of the decision or signed resolution and who concurred therein. If only one Member of the Court who participated and concurred in the rendition of the decision or signed resolution remains, he or she shall be designated as the new ponente. DETACa

If a Member (not the ponente) of the Division which rendered the decision or signed resolution has retired, is no longer a Member of the Court, is disqualified, or has inhibited himself or herself from acting on the motion for reconsideration or clarification, or on any other pleading, motion and incident subsequently filed, he or she shall be replaced through raffle by a replacement Member who shall be chosen from the other Divisions until a new Justice is appointed as replacement for the retired Justice. Upon the appointment of a new Justice, he or she shall replace the designated Justice as replacement Member of the Special Division.

Any vacancy or vacancies in the Special Division shall be filled by raffle from among the other Members of the Court to constitute a Special Division of five (5) Members.

If the ponente and all the Members of the Division that rendered the Decision or signed Resolution are no longer Members of the Court, the case shall be raffled to any Member of the Court and the pleading, motion or incident shall be acted upon by him or her with the participation of the other Members of the Division to which he or she belongs.

6. RULE 8, SECTION 4

SEC. 4. Substitution of Member. — When a vacancy occurs in a Division, another Member from the other Divisions shall be designated by the Chief Justice by rotation, according to a reverse order of seniority, to act as Member of the Division until a newly appointed Member assumes office.

When a Member of the Division is on leave, he/she shall no longer be replaced as long as there is a quorum of at least three (3) members, and said absent Member who participated in the deliberation of the case shall be allowed to leave his or her vote pursuant to Section 4 of Rule 12.

7. RULE 13, SECTION 4

SEC. 4. Continuance in deliberations. — (a) The deliberation in a case may be adjourned to another date to enable the Member who requested it to further study the case; provided, however, that the total period of continuances in the deliberation shall not exceed three months from the date it was adjourned, unless the Court for good reason extends such period.

The immediately preceding rule shall likewise apply to actions on motions for reconsideration of the decisions and resolutions of the Court, unless a Member, whose vote in the original decision of a divided Court matters, is about to retire. In such a situation, the action on the motion for reconsideration submitted for resolution shall be made before his or her retirement.

8. DELETION OF SECTIONS 5 AND 7 OF RULE 13; REPLACEMENT THEREOF BY A NEW PROVISION ON THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS; AND RE-NUMBERING OF THE AFFECTED SECTIONS

SEC. 5. Decision-making process. — a) A Member who disagrees with the report and the recommended action of the Member-in-Charge may submit to the Chief Justice or Division Chairperson, furnishing a copy to other Members, his or her reflections, setting forth the reason or reasons for such disagreement.

b) A Member who agrees with the recommended action but based on different reason or reasons may, observing the same procedure, submit his or her reflections stating such reason or reasons.

c) Unless the Court allows a longer period, the reflections must be submitted within a maximum period of one month from the date the Member-in-Charge's report is presented to the Court.

d) After the submission of the reflections, the Member-in-Charge may request for a vote on the report and the reflections or for time to respond to such reflections within a maximum period of two weeks. Voting shall take place when the final versions of the report and the reflections shall have been submitted.

e) The Court shall then assign to a Member the writing of its opinion based on the result of the voting. The Member assigned shall submit the majority opinion and the other Members may submit his or her dissenting, separate, or concurring opinions based solely on the final versions voted upon.

f) The majority opinion together with the other opinions shall be simultaneously filed with the Chief Justice or the Division Chairperson and promulgated as official Court actions in the case.

g) Considering the collegial nature of the Court actions, a Member's vote during the final deliberation on a case cannot be unilaterally changed.

These amendments shall take effect immediately upon publication in a newspaper of general circulation. aDSIHc

(SGD.) MARIA LOURDES P.A. SERENOChief Justice

(SGD.) ANTONIO T. CARPIOAssociate Justice

(SGD.) PRESBITERO J. VELASCO, JR.Associate Justice

(SGD.) TERESITA J. LEONARDO-DE CASTRO Associate Justice

(on leave)ARTURO D. BRIONAssociate Justice

(SGD.) DIOSDADO M. PERALTA Associate Justice

(SGD.) LUCAS P. BERSAMIN Associate Justice

(SGD.) MARIANO C. DEL CASTILLOAssociate Justice

(SGD.) MARTIN S. VILLARAMA, JR.Associate Justice

(SGD.) JOSE PORTUGAL PEREZAssociate Justice

(on leave)(SGD.) JOSE CATRAL MENDOZA Associate Justice

(SGD.) BIENVENIDO L. REYES Associate Justice

(SGD.) ESTELA M. PERLAS-BERNABE Associate Justice

(SGD.) MARVIC M.V.F. LEONEN Associate Justice

(SGD.) FRANCIS H. JARDELEZA Associate Justice

Published in The Philippine Star on January 22, 2016.