Court clerk found guilty of misconduct

CEBU, Philippines - The Supreme Court has slapped a Regional Trial Court (RTC) employee in Cebu City with a fine of P5,000 for encashing the salary check of his fellow court worker without permission.

Carlos M. Relacion, clerk III of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 15, has been found guilty of simple misconduct when he encashed the salary check of complainant Benigno B. Reas, sheriff IV of RTC-Branch 23.

The agreement is that the RTC Clerk of Courts will deliver to the Cebu CFI Community Cooperative the salary checks of court personnel with outstanding obligation with the cooperative to ensure payment of their loan.

When Reas went to the cooperative’s office to claim his check, cooperative personnel Lucino Garcia informed him that his check, with the amount of P4,280, had been “inadvertently surrendered” or given to Relacion.

Despite repeated demands to return the check, Relacion failed to do so. It was later found that Relacion had used the money for personal needs.

Relacion claimed that when he received the check from Garcia, he did not look at it and just had it encashed by a money changer. According to him, he also did not count the money given to him.

But Relacion admitted that his wife was surprised because his supposed net take home pay for the first half salary is only P1,575. Believing that there was overpayment, he said he returned to the cooperative immediately but failed to find the money changer.

Still, the following day, Relacion went to the cooperative’s cashier to claim his own check. But it already withheld because of the incident.

The incident triggered a fistfight between Relacion and Reas that prompted the Supreme Court to order an investigation. (FREEMAN)