MTCC Judge Navarro resigns from his post

Presiding Judge Donato Navarro, of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities, had decided to resign from his post, citing the series of controversies that had beseiged him in his work.

“While there are so many reasons to leave, I finally decided to go on a matter of principle as some justices of the Supreme Court apparently have a different point of view of a certain piece of the law,” Navarro said.

The decision of Navarro came after the SC denied his motion to reconsider an earlier ruling suspending him for six months for alleged ignorance of the law and delay in rendering a decision.

Navarro, who was MTCC judge since 1999, said he was “mortified” with the ruling because it reportedly did not even elaborate the high tribunal’s interpretation of the law he supposedly violated.

The case against Navarro started when a certain Sandra Mino filed a complaint in 2005 accusing him of gross inexcusable negligence for his alleged failure to issue a warrant of arrest, within the prescribed period, over an attempted homicide case against a certain Allan Arcilla.

“Basic law is something you can state clearly. Where there is no rule to deal with a specific situation, how can there be basic law?” Navarro contended as he cited Rule 112 of the New Rules of Criminal Procedure is silent about the duty of the judge should he find probable cause to hold the accused for a crime other than that mentioned in the charged sheet. 

“The rule being silent on the issue, ... , judges have some discretion as to what action ought to be taken. It seems more than appropriate that the court return the information to the prosecutor informing the prosecutor involved of the court’s finding. This is not expressly prohibited by the rules,” Navarro had said in his motion for reconsideration.

Navarro had ruled that instead of attempted homicide, Arcilla should only be charged for grave threats because there was “no probable cause to believe that the accused had acted with intent to kill, not having persisted in his threat against the offended party.” 

Mino however raised the matter to the SC, saying she was not given a chance to be heard before Navarro issued the order. She then argued that the prosecutor’s office had already ruled on the existence of probable cause and that its ruling was not appealed before the Office of the Regional State Prosecutor or the Department of Justice.

The SC upheld Mino’s argument prompting Navarro to move for a reconsideration contending that he was right in his decision on the case against Arcilla.

He said that among those that agreed with his judgment were a former Supreme Court justice “whose duties require him to be thoroughly familiar with the rule involved,” a senior Court of Appeals justice “who is known for his intelligence and integrity,” and another judge “who has been considered an authority on Remedial Law.”

Last year, Navarro hugged the spotlight when he made public the alleged marriage scam in the local courts. His expose, following an investigation by the Supreme Court, resulted in the preventive suspension of four other MTCC judges.  — Joeberth M. Ocao/RAE