Judge dismissed, another fined by SC

The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed a Misamis Oriental judge for having a huge backlog of cases in his sala and fined another one from Makati City for lying in her monthly accomplishment reports.

The SC dismissed Judge Ramon R. Legaspi Jr. of the 3rd Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Kinoguitan-Sugbongcongon, Misamis Oriental for failing to decide on numerous cases within the required period.

The SC, meanwhile, fined Makati City Judge Rebecca R. Mariano P40,000 for providing false information in her monthly reports in violation of the Canons of the Code of Judicial conduct and the SC Administrative Circular no. 4-2004.

The Office of the Court administrator discovered the huge backlog in the cases handled by Mariano during an audit in October 2002.

"Judge Legaspi was given several opportunities to decide the cases stretching over more than two years, but still failed to comply," the High Court said.

The SC said that 89 cases supposedly set for promulgation since remained idle in Legaspi’s sala. The cases were not mentioned in Legaspi’s accomplishment report during the period.

"The Court dismissed judge Legaspi because the wheels of justice would hardly move if respondent is allowed to continue working in the judiciary," the SC said.

In the case of Mariano, the SC said she falsified the date of her promulgation of a decision in the Amanet Inc. vs. Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. case.

The High Court said that a report submitted by Mariano on March 7, 2005 included the Amanet-ETPI case in the list of cases already resolved. Her report also revealed cases that remained unresolved after the required 90-day limit. — Jose Rodel Clapano