In the trial courts, Peralta said that there have been 67,481 hearings through video conferencing on criminal cases involving 45,336 persons deprived of liberty .
“This is also proof that the Judiciary never wavered even during the almost six-month government lockdown in dispensing its constitutional duty to adjudicate cases,” he said. The SC dismissed ABS-CBN’s petition on the ground of mootness considering the supervening denial last July 10 of the pending House Bills for the renewal of its legislative franchise that expired last May 4.
Peralta said that “in the three cases and in all others decided by the SC, the Court based its ruling on existing laws and jurisprudence.” In the divisions, he said that “all decisions and actions shall be made upon the concurrence of at least three members of the Division who actually took part in the deliberations on the issue or issues involved and voted on them.”