SUPERVISORY CIRCULAR NO.

14 October 22, 1985

SUPREME COURT CIRCULARS AND ORDERS

TO: ALL JUDGES OF THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS, COURT OF TAX APPEALS, METROPOLITAN TRIAL
COURTS, MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURTS, AND MUNICIPAL CIRCUIT TRIAL COURTS
SUBJECT: SESSION HOURS OF COURTS
For the information and guidance of all concerned, and in compliance with the Resolution of the Court En Banc, dated
October 3, 1985, in Administrative Matter No. 85-9-8203-RTC. Re: Resolution No. 11 of the Pasay City Trial Lawyers
Association requesting that the practice of setting hearing of cases and court sessions of 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. by
the judges in the country . . . be forthwith enjoined and stopped and that said judges be concomitantly ordered to
comply with the Supreme Court's resolution of January 11, 1983, quoted hereunder is the Resolution of the Court En
Banc of January 11, 1983, to wit:
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
RESOLUTION OF THE COURT EN BANC, DATED JANUARY 11, 1983 PROVIDING FOR THE INTERIM OR TRANSITIONAL
RULES AND GUIDELINES RELATIVE TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE JUDICIARY REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1980 (B.P.
Blg. 129)
RESOLUTION
Considering the enactment of the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980 (B.P. Blg. 129) which provides for the
reorganization of all the courts except the Supreme Court, the Sandiganbayan and the Court of Tax Appeals and some
changes in the present rules on procedures; realizing the necessity of harmonizing the provisions of the Rules of Court
with the changes thus affected; and pending a more thorough revision of the Rules of Court which is now in progress,
the Court Resolved to promulgate the following interim or transitional rules and guidelines relative thereto for all
inferior courts according to the Constitution:
A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. Designation of courts. The reference to the (a) Court of Appeals, (b) courts of first instance, and (c) "inferior
courts" in the Rules of Court shall be deemed changed to (a) the Intermediate Appellate Court, (b) the regional trial
courts, and (c) the metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts and municipal circuit trial courts, respectively.
B.P. Blg. 129 creates thirteen judicial regions corresponding to the thirteen administrative regions of the country in
place of the sixteen judicial district under the Judiciary Act of 1948.
2. Territorial jurisdiction of courts. (a) Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts and Municipal Circuit Trial
Courts shall exercise their jurisdiction in the city, municipality or circuit for which the judge thereof is appointed or
designated.
(b) A regional trial court shall exercise its jurisdiction within the area defined by the Supreme Court as
the territory over which the particular branch concerned shall exercise its authority, in accordance with
Section 18 of B.P. Blg. 129.
3. Writs and processes.
(a) Writs of certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, habeas corpus and injunction issued by a
regional trial court may be enforced in any part of the region.
(b) All other processes, whether issued by a regional trial court or a metropolitan trial court, municipal
trial court or municipal circuit trial court may be served anywhere in the Philippines, and, in the last
three cases, without a certification by the judge of the regional trial courts.
4. Motions for reconsideration. No party shall be allowed a second motion for reconsideration of a final order or
judgment.
5. Session Hours. Regional Trial Courts, Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts, and Municipal Circuit Trial
Courts shall hold daily sessions from Monday to Friday, from 8:30 to 12:00 noon and from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. assisted by
a skeletal force, also on rotation, primarily to act on petitions for bail and other urgent matters.
On Saturday afternoons, Sundays and non-working holidays, any Judge may act on bailable offenses conformably to
the provisions of Section 7, Rule 112 of the Rules of Court.
All Executive Judges, whether in single sala or multiple salas shall remain on duty on Saturday mornings.

7. Motion day. Except those motions requiring immediate action, all motions should be scheduled for hearing on
Friday afternoons, or if Friday is a non-working day, in the afternoon of the next business day.
8. Preliminary injunction not granted without notice issuance of restraining order. No preliminary injunction shall be
granted without notice to the defendant. If it shall appear from the facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint
that great or irreparable injury would result to the applicant before the master can be heard on notice, the Court to
which the application for preliminary injunction was made, may issue a restraining order to be effective only for a
period of twenty days from date of its issuance. Within the said twenty-day period, the court must cause an order to be
served on the defendant, requiring him to show cause, at a specified time and place, why the injunction should not be
granted, and determine within the same period whether or not the preliminary injunction shall be granted, and shall
accordingly issue the corresponding order. In the event that the application for preliminary injunction is denied, the
restraining order is deemed automatically vacated.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to impair, affect or modify in any way any rights granted by, or rules
pertaining to injunctions contained in, existing agrarian, labor or social legislation.
B. PROCEDURE IN THE METROPOLITAN TRIAL COURTS, MUNICIPAL COURTS AND MUNICIPAL CIRCUIT
TRIAL COURTS
9. Uniform with that in regional trial courts. Rules 5 and 123 of the Rules of Court are hereby repealed. The
procedure to be observed in Metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts and municipal circuit trial courts, in all
cases and proceedings, whether civil or criminal, shall be the same as that to be observed in the regional trial courts.
10. Jurisdiction in ejectment cases. Metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts, and municipal circuit trial courts,
without distinction, may try cases of forcible entry and detainer even if the question of ownership is raised in the
pleadings and the question of possession could not be resolved without deciding the issue of ownership, but the
question of ownership shall be resolved only to determine the issue of possession.
11. Application of the totality rule. In actions where the jurisdiction of the court is dependent on the amount
involved, the test of jurisdiction shall be the aggregate sum of all the money demands, exclusive only of interest and
costs, irrespective of whether or not the separate claims are owned by or due to different parties. If any demand is for
damages in a civil action, the amount thereof must be specifically alleged.
12. Preliminary investigations. Preliminary investigations may be conducted by Metropolitan Trial Courts (except
those in the National Capital Region), Municipal Trial Courts and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts in the manner provided
for in Section 37 of B.P. Blg. 129.
No warrant of arrest shall be issued by any judge of a metropolitan trial court, municipal trial court and municipal
circuit trial courts in any criminal case filed with him unless he first examines the witness or witnesses personally, and
the examinations shall be under oath and reduced to writing in the form of searching questions and answers.
C. PROCEDURE IN THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS
13. Venue of actions. The venue of all actions whether civil or criminal, and in special proceedings, filed in the
regional trial courts shall mean such area defined by the Supreme Court as the territory over which particular a branch
shall exercise authority in accordance with Section 18 of B.P. Blg. 129.
All provisions of the Rules of Court referring to "provides" shall be deemed to mean such area.
D. PROCEDURE IN THE INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT
14. Exercise of original jurisdiction. The Intermediate Appellate Court may entertain petitions for mandamus,
prohibition, certiorari, habeas corpus, and quo warranto, and issue auxiliary writs or processes, whether or not in aid of
its appellate jurisdiction.
15. Trial of cases. Whenever the Intermediate Appellate Court shall conduct a trial or hearing to receive evidence, it
shall observe the procedure prescribed for such purpose in the trial courts.
E. APPELLATE PROCEDURE
16. Cases reviewable by the Intermediate Appellate Court. The Intermediate Appellate Court may review final
decisions, orders, awards or resolutions of regional trial courts and of all quasi-judicial bodies except the Commission
on Elections, the Commission on Audit, the Sandiganbayan, and decisions issued under the Labor Code of the
Philippines and the Central Board Assessment Appeals.
17. Petitions for writs of certiorari, etc. No petition for certiorari, mandamus, prohibition, habeas corpus or quo
warranto may be filed in the Intermediate Appellate Court if another similar position has been filed or is still pending in
the Supreme Court. Nor may such petition be filed in the Supreme Court if a similar petition has been filed or is still
pending in the Intermediate Appellate Court, unless it be to review the action taken by the Intermediate Appellate
Court on the petition filed with it. A violation of this rule shall constitute contempt of court and shall be a cause for the
summary dismissal of both petitions, without prejudice to the taking of appropriate action against the counsel or party
concerned.
18. Elimination of record on appeal and appeal bond. The filing of a record on appeal shall be dispensed with, except
in the cases referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph 19 hereof.

No appeal bond shall be required for an appeal.

19. Period of Appeal.
(a) All appeals, except in habeas corpus cases and in the cases referred to in paragraph (b) hereof, must be taken
within fifteen (15) days from notice of judgment, order, resolution or award appealed from.
(b) In appeals in special proceedings in accordance with Rule 109 of the Rules of Court and other cases wherein
multiple appeals are allowed, the period of appeal shall be thirty (30) days, a record of appeal being required.
20. Procedure for taking appeal. An appeal from the Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts, or Municipal
Circuit Trial Courts to the regional trial courts, and from the regional trial courts to the Intermediate Appellate Court in
actions or proceeding originally filed in the former shall be taken by filing a notice of appeal with the court that
rendered the judgment or order appealed from.
21. Appeal to the regional trial courts.
(a) All cases decided by metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts, and municipal circuit trial courts may be
appealed to the regional trial courts exercising jurisdiction over the area to which they pertain.
(b) Within five (5) days from the perfection of the appeal it shall be the duty of the clerk of court to transmit the
original record, or the record on appeal as the case may be, to the appropriate regional trial court.
(c) Upon receipt of the original record, or of the record on appeal, and of the transcripts and exhibits, the clerk of court
of the regional trial courts shall notify the parties of such fact.
(d) Within fifteen (15) days from receipt by the parties of the notice referred to in the preceding paragraph, they may
submit memoranda and/or briefs, or be required by the regional trial court to do so. After the submission of said
memoranda and/or briefs, or upon the expiration of the period to file the same, the regional trial court shall decide the
case on the basis of the entire record of the proceeding had in the court of origin and such memoranda and/or briefs,
as may have been filed.
22. Appellate procedure in the Intermediate Appellate Court.
(a) Ordinary appeals from the regional trial courts. The procedures provided for in Rules 46 and 124 of the Rules of
Court shall apply insofar as the said Rules are not inconsistent with this Resolutions and B.P. Blg. 129.
(b) Review of appealed cases from regional trial courts. In action or proceedings originally filed in the metropolitan
trial courts, municipal trial courts and municipal circuit trial courts appealed to the regional trial courts, the final
judgment or orders of the latter may be appealed by petition for review to in the Intermediate Appellate Court which
may give due course only when the petition shows prima facie that the lower courts has committed an error of fact or
law that will warrant a reversal or modification of the decision or formal order sought to be reviewed.
The petition for review shall be governed by the Resolution of the Court of Appeals dated August 12, 1971, as modified
in the manner indicated in the preceding paragraph hereof.
(c) Appeals from Quasi-Judicial Bodies. The appeals to the Intermediate Appeallate Court from quasi-judicial bodies
shall continue to be governed by the provisions of Republic Act No. 5435 insofar as the same is not inconsistent with
the provisions of B.P. Blg. 129.
23. Perfection of appeal. In case where appeal is taken, the perfection of the appeal shall be upon the expiration of
the last day to appeal by any party.
In cases where a record on appeal is required the appeal is perfected upon the approval thereof by the court which
should be done within ten (10) days.
24. Memorandum decisions. The judgment or final resolution of a court in appealed cases may adopt by reference
the findings of fact and conclusions of law contained in the decision or final order appealed from.
F. APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT
25. Appeals to the Supreme Court shall be taken by petition for certiorari which shall be governed by the Rule 45 of the
Rules of Court.
G. EFFECTIVITY
26. Those interim rules and guidelines shall be effective immediately upon the implementation of B.P.
Blg. 129 as provided in its Section 44.
The Rules of Court of 1964 shall continue to be in force except insofar as any provisions thereof is inconsistent with the
provisions of this Resolution B.P. Blg. 129 and other applicable statutes and decrees.
SO ORDERED.

Strict observance of the aforementioned Resolution of January 11, 1983 is hereby enjoined.
Manila, October 22, 1985