Previous Story
Guma Hustisia closed for 4 days
The NMI Supreme Court has ordered the temporary closure of the Guma Hustisia, citing the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the CNMI.
According to Chief Justice Alexandro Castro, the Guma Hustisia will remain closed for the rest of the week starting yesterday in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
“In the past 40 days, the CNMI has experienced a surge in confirmed COVID-19 positive cases, exhausting its healthcare system. Since Oct. 28, 2021, the CNMI has reported 1,617 new cases, and more specifically, since the beginning of December, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. has reported 804 positive cases of COVID-19, which represents approximately 42% of all confirmed positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic,” he said. “In an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the CNMI, the court orders the temporary closure of Guma Hustisia from Tuesday, Dec. 14, until Friday, Dec. 17,” he said.
Although the Guma Hustisia will be closed to the public, time-sensitive hearings will still be heard virtually.
“Bail, initial appearance, arraignment, family protection, emergency and time-sensitive hearings may be set through either videoconferencing or teleconferencing means. Judiciary staff will be teleworking until Friday. Managers and supervisors may call upon employees to report to the Guma Hustisia on an as-needed basis,” he said.
Also, the Department of Public Safety Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ driver’s license renewals, driver exams, and drivers testing services remain postponed and will be rescheduled until a later date.
The BMV currently only accepts document drop-off for vehicle and/or watercraft registration renewal from 8am to 10. Then, 2pm to 4pm is dedicated document pick-up.
BMV asks individuals to make payments at the CNMI Treasury on Capitol Hill, or Revenue and Tax in Dan Dan before turning in documents, as the DPS cashiers window operated by the Office of Finance remains closed.
