For sending a mobile phone text message in trying to extort P1 million from a man in exchange for a favorable decision on a case, an appellate court clerk was fired by the Supreme Court and barred for life from the civil service.
In a precedent-setting decision, the Supreme Court said Elvira Cruz-Apao, executive assistant and acting clerk of court at the Court of Appeal’s 15th Division, was guilty of misconduct and violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Code of Conduct for Court Personnel.
"What brings our judicial system into disrepute are often the actuations of a few erring court personnel peddling influence to party litigants, creating the impression that decisions can be bought and sold, ultimately resulting in the disillusionment of the public," the court said.
"This Court has never wavered in its vigilance in eradicating the so-called bad eggs in the judiciary. And whenever warranted by the gravity of the offense, the supreme penalty of dismissal in an administrative case is meted to erring personnel," it said.
Apao will not serve jail time, but the SC forfeited her pension and barred her from the civil service. The court ruling said the evidence was admitted under the rules of electronic evidence it had issued in 2001.
Court records showed that the administrative case for dishonesty and grave misconduct filed against Apao stemmed from her solicitation of P1 million from Zaldy Nuez, who has a pending case at the CA.
Nuez first lodged the complaint against Apao with the Action Center of the television program "Imbestigador" of GMA Network hosted by Mike Enriquez. The crew of "Imbestigador" accompanied Nuez to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission-Special Projects Group (PAOCC-SPG) at Malacañang where he filed a complaint against Apao for extortion.
An entrapment operation was set up by elements of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) in September 2004 at the Jollibee restaurant at the Times Plaza building along Taft Avenue in Manila where Nuez and Apao agreed to meet.
The PAOCTF pounced on Apao after she received the marked money from Nuez, prompting CA presiding Justice Cancio Garcia, now a Supreme Court Justice, to create an ad hoc investigating committee.
After an exhaustive investigation, the committee issued a resolution on Oct. 18, 2004 that there was a prima facie case for dishonesty and serious misconduct against Apao. On Jan. 28, 2005, the committee submitted a report to CA Presiding Justice Rome Brawner recommending Apao’s dismissal from government service.
Nuez’s dealings with Apao started when he sought the latter’s help in speeding up the resolution of a case he filed against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., his former employer, before the Civil Service Commission. Though the CSC had issued a favorable decision on the case and reinstated Nuez in his job, a temporary restraining order was issued by the CA in favor of Pagcor.
Through telephone conversations and text messages, Nuez said Apao informed him that the person who would draft the decision was asking for P1 million.
The high court brushed aside Apao’s claim that the offer of money in exchange for the decision did not come from her but from Nuez.
The SC, however, gave credence to Nuez’s narration of the circumstances, saying that he was able to prove through text messages duly presented before the investigating committee that Apao indeed asked for P1 million.
"The text messages were properly admitted by the committee since the same are now considered admissible under the Rules on Electronic Evidence so long as they are proven by a person who was party to the same or who has a personal knowledge thereof," ruled the High Tribunal.
"Everyone in the judiciary bears a heavy burden of responsibility for the proper discharge of his duty and it behooves everyone to steer clear of any situations in which the slightest suspicion might be raised on his conduct," the Supreme Court said. — With AFP