Short answer. Sixty days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution complained of. If a motion for reconsideration or new trial was timely filed — whether or not the motion was required — the sixty days are counted instead from notice of the denial of that motion, a full fresh period rather than a balance.
What the law says
The petition shall be filed not later than sixty days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution.
Rule 65, Section 4 — When and where to file the petition. Read the full provision →
What the law says
In case a motion for reconsideration or new trial is timely filed, whether such motion is required or not, the petition shall be filed not later than sixty days counted from the notice of the denial of the motion.
Rule 65, Section 4 — When and where to file the petition. Read the full provision →
Sixty days from notice
Rule 65 sets the outer limit in one sentence: the petition shall be filed not later than sixty days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution. Certiorari is the extraordinary remedy against acts of a tribunal, board or officer amounting to grave abuse of discretion, and sixty days is the whole window for invoking it. The count starts at notice — the day the challenged issuance is received — so the first fact to nail down, and to keep proof of, is that date.
A denied motion for reconsideration restarts the count
The rule is unusually generous on this point. In case a motion for reconsideration or new trial is timely filed, whether such motion is required or not, the petition shall be filed not later than sixty days counted from the notice of the denial of the motion. Unlike deadline regimes that leave only the unused balance after a denial, this wording gives a fresh sixty days from notice of the denial. The condition is that the motion was timely filed — a late motion buys nothing. Seeking reconsideration first is generally the prudent course anyway, since certiorari assumes there is no other plain, speedy and adequate remedy left to exhaust.
Where the sixty-day petition goes
The same section maps the forum. A petition concerning an act or an omission of a municipal trial court or of a corporation, a board, an officer or a person is filed with the Regional Trial Court exercising jurisdiction over the territorial area, though it may also be filed with the Court of Appeals or with the Sandiganbayan. Acts of a quasi-judicial agency go to the Court of Appeals, which alone takes cognizance unless law or the Rules provide otherwise. And in election cases involving an act or omission of a municipal or regional trial court, the petition is filed exclusively with the Commission on Elections, in aid of its appellate jurisdiction. Filing in the wrong forum consumes the sixty days as surely as not filing at all.
Using the period wisely
Sixty days is the longest of the common review periods, and it breeds complacency. The petition must be built from a record — certified copies of the challenged issuance and the material pleadings — and must plead grave abuse of discretion with specifics, not disappointment with the outcome. Settle three things in the first week: the exact notice date, whether a timely motion for reconsideration will be filed, and which forum the section assigns. Then work backwards from the deadline, leaving margin for obtaining certified copies, which is routinely the slowest step.