Badoy rapped for ‘interview’

The Supreme Court (SC) ordered yesterday Sandiganbayan Justice Anacleto Badoy Jr. to explain why he had himself "whisked" off on an ambulance on Nov. 29, not to a hospital but to a TV station for an "unnecessary" interview.

In an en banc resolution, the SC gave Badoy five days to explain why he had himself spirited to the GMA television network studios in Quezon City for a live interview on the station’s Saksi news program.

"In the live interview, he reported to the entire country the alleged theft of a resolution penned by himself in connection with the criminal case for plunder of (jailed former President Joseph) Estrada," read the high court’s single-page resolution.

Acting motu propio, the tribunal said Badoy’s acts could be construed as "conduct unbecoming of an associate justice of the Sandiganbayan."

"Media personnel also described the commotion that erupted inside the station complex as a wild chase when they sought Justice Badoy for an interview," the resolution said.

The SC also noted that media reports sarcastically referred to the incident as a "staged comedy" and television "tryst" and was even reported under facetious headlines, such as "Ambulance rushes Badoy — to TV station."

The show-cause order was signed by all SC justices, except for Associate Justice Arturo Buena who is out of town on official business.

It was the first time the high court acted on its own on a judicial administrative matter and the second time it slapped the wrist of a magistrate of the anti-graft court.

Conduct unbecoming of a justice may be penalized with a warning for first-timers, a reprimand for the second offense, suspension on the third and dismissal on the fourth commission of the offense.

Last week, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena was suspended indefinitely for delaying the resolution of cases filed before the anti-graft court.

Before Garchitorena was suspended, he also figured in a public word war with Badoy over the handling of the Estrada case. Garchitorena said Badoy was lazy and incompetent while Badoy claimed he was being pressured to resign his chairmanship of the third division, which is hearing Estrada’s plunder charge.

Sources in the SC said the justices found it was not necessary for Badoy to publicly explain how the documents were lost since the National Bureau on Investigation (NBI) was already investigating the matter.

In the interview, Badoy had explained that he lost a resolution he wrote ordering Estrada’s transfer from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) to the special detention facility built for him at the police training camp Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Badoy said he suspected that his stenographer Jano del Rosario took the draft and feared that it might be leaked to the media. He then barred his seven staff members from entering his chamber.

However, another Badoy staff member Maximo Tuazon said the resolution may have been simply misplaced — a common occurrence in the office of any justice of the anti-graft court.

Del Rosario denied taking the resolution and professed loyalty to the magistrate but also asked the Sandiganbayan Employees Association to hold rallies if the anti-graft court’s acting Presiding Justice Minita Nazario does not act on del Rosario’s complaint.