For committing various administrative offenses which run counter to the standards of competence, integrity, and diligence in public service, a first-level court judge and three court employees were dismissed by the Supreme Court.
In a 12-page per curiam decision, Judge Maxwell S. Rosete of the Metropolitan Trial Circuit Court, Branch 2, Santiago City, Isabela, was dismissed from service for dishonesty and gross misconduct. The Court found that Rosete had misappropriated the amount of PhP15,000, received from an accused in a criminal case as payment of the premium of the said accused’s bail bond.
The Court stressed that it was not the first time that Rosete had been made to account for his administrative offenses. Rosete had been previously fined PhP2,000 by the Court for gross ignorance of the law, grave abuse of authority and/or discretion, and incompetence, and, in another case, PhP5,000 for dishonesty. Rosete had likewise been reprimanded for violating Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code (usurpation of authority or official functions), and had been suspended for four months for violating RA 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
“A judge who has habitually flouted judicial ethics and betrayed judicial standards does not deserve the honor of his office,” said the Court. “To him should be meted the severest of administrative penalties.”
Also dismissed from service was Maria Algabre Chico, Clerk of Court II of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC), Apalit-San Simon, Pampanga, for gross dishonesty and malversation of public funds. The High Court also ordered the Civil Service Commission to cancel Chico’s civil service eligibility, if any, and directed the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) to file criminal charges against Chico before the appropriate court.
In a financial audit conducted by the OCA in the MCTC of Apalit-San Simon, Pampanga, Chico was found to have incurred cash accountabilities related to her duties as collecting officer amounting to PhP391,100 (PhP380,000 representing refunded cash bonds and PhP11,100 representing marriage solemnization fees).
In finding Chico guilty of gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct, the Court emphasized that the safeguarding of funds and collections, the submission to the Court of a monthly report of collections for all funds, and the proper issuance of official receipts for collections are essential to an orderly administration of justice. Chico admitted that she used some of the court’s collections to pay for her personal expenses and confessed her failure to duly collect solemnization fees and to immediately deposit the cash bonds received by the court. She likewise admitted that she gave the court’s junior process server cash allowances without the necessary papers for travel expenses in the service of summons.
The Court found that Chico did not issue an official receipt for the amount of PhP8,000 she had received in connection with a criminal case. Neither did Chico detail in her monthly report of collections and deposits all true and correct cash transactions of the court, in violation of Supreme Court Circular No. 32-93. Likewise, the Court found that Chico falsely reported that certain withdrawals had been duly acknowledged by their respective claimants by means of signatures which Chico herself had forged.
In another per curiam case, the High Court also dismissed a court stenographer who consistently refused to transcribe the stenographic notes taken by her.
Ruby B. Hechanova, Court Stenographer III of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 69, Silay City, Negros Occidental, was found guilty of gross neglect of duty. Hechanova was charged by Judge Felipe G. Banzon of the same branch of court with continued refusal to transcribe stenographic notes, alleging that Hechanova still refused to perform her duties despite the memoranda and orders issued by him directing her to transcribe her stenographic notes, with a warning that she shall be held in contempt and ordered arrested should she fail to comply.
In finding Hechanova guilty of gross neglect of duty, the Court held that as a stenographer, she should have realized “that the performance of her duty is essential to the prompt and proper administration of justice, and her inaction hampers the administration of justice and erodes public faith in the Judiciary.”
Likewise dismissed from service was Crisanto T. Flora, Sheriff IV of the RTC, Office of the Clerk of Court, Baguio City, for gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct.
In a 13-page per curiam resolution, the High Court found that Flora asked for PhP5,000 from the complainants in a civil case for the enforcement of a writ of execution dated February 20, 2001 issued by Branch 4 of the RTC of Baguio City, without issuing a receipt. However, Flora submitted to the court the sheriff’s return, dated June 15, 2001, only on May 27, 2005, after the branch clerk of court had inquired about it in March 2005.
Flora claimed that he was not able to implement the writ of execution because he was suspended from office from August 1, 2001 to July 31, 2002. The Court, however, rejected his argument, stressing that the writ of execution was issued and assigned to Flora more than five months before his suspension.
The Court also found dubious the sheriff’s return submitted by Flora. “The return was supposedly dated June 15, 2001 yet it never occurred to him to submit it immediately thereafter,” said the Court. “By his own admission, the submission came only after the branch clerk of court inquired about it… It now appears that the return was ante-dated and the submission a mere afterthought.”
The other Judiciary employees who were administratively sanctioned by the High Court were Atty. Ma. Victoria A. Acidera, Clerk of Court, RTC, Branch 13 of Laoag City, who was fined PhP10,000 for gross ignorance of the law for allowing the filing of motions that do not strictly conform with the Rules of Court, the same not having been addressed to all parties concerned; Remedios Base, Clerk of Court, Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of Brooke’s Point, Palawan, who was fined in an amount equivalent to her salary for two months for simple misconduct for issuing an order committing an accused in a criminal case to the Chief of Police of Brooke’s Point, thereby arrogating upon herself a judicial function; Reynaldo O. Girado, Sheriff IV, RTC, Branch 33 of Davao City, who was fined in an amount equivalent to his salary for one month for simple neglect of duty when he failed to implement the alias writ of execution and submit a sheriff’s return on execution relative to a civil case; Eriberto Sabas, former Clerk of Court and Ex Officio Sheriff of the MTC of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, who was also fined in an amount equivalent to his salary for one month, to be deducted from his retirement pay, after he was found guilty of simple neglect of duty for executing a demolition order relative to a civil case which entailed the destruction of a property belonging to a person not a party to the said case; Eugenio Taguba, Process Server, MTCC, Branch 2 of Santiago City, who was fined PhP2,000 after he was found guilty of simple misconduct for having prepared an acknowledgment receipt for the amount of PhP15,000 received and misappropriated by the dismissed Judge Rosete, and for having offered the varying amounts to the complainants in the administrative case against him and Judge Rosete in exchange for the withdrawal of the complaint; and Dominador Monesit Sr., Court Interpreter, MTC, Tandag, Surigao del Sur, who was reprimanded after he was found guilty of willful failure to pay a just debt. (AM No. MTJ-08-1702, Lacanilao v. Rosete, April 8, 2008; AM No. 08-1-30-MCTC, Re: Financial Report on the Audit Conducted in the MCTC, Apalit-San Simon, Pampanga, April 10, 2008; AM No. P-04-1765, Banzon v. Hechanova, April 8, 2008; AM No. P-06-2169, Urbanozo v. Flora, March 28, 2008; AM No. P-08-2442, Obrero v. Acidera, March 28, 2008; AM No. P-08-2440, Carandang v. Base, March 28, 2008; AM No. P-06-2250, Estoque v. Girado, March 24, 2008; AM No. P-06-2257, Stilgrove v. Sabas, March 28, 2008; and AM No. P-08-2447, Rosales v. Monesit, Sr., April 10, 2008.)
