SC grants clemency to judge eyed for top NBI post

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has granted clemency to a Quezon City regional trial court (RTC)judge it penalized in 2009 for undue delay in the resolution of cases.

The judicial clemency granted to Quezon City RTC Branch 83 Judge Ralph Lee gave him the chance to be promoted or seek positions outside the judiciary.

Lee is reportedly among those being eyed to replace National Bureau of Investigation director Magtanggol Gatdula, who was relieved from his post last January over his alleged role in the abduction of Japanese woman Noriyo Ohara. 

In his request made Feb. 1, Lee sought clemency and admitted he would like to seek a higher position in the judiciary. He said the sanction imposed on him “precludes him from qualifying for a promotion in the judiciary, or from being appointed to any similar government office where appointment is governed by the rules of the Judicial and Bar Council.”

In the ruling signed by deputy clerk of court Felipa Anama and released last week, the high court held it “now deems it fair, appropriate and timely to open the door to Judge Lee to allow him to seek further opportunities in the judiciary.”

In a resolution handed down in March 2009, the SC fined Lee P20,000 for his failure to decide assigned cases within the period fixed by law.

Records showed that Lee, who had just been promoted to the position of RTC judge, submitted a report for the month of August 2005 containing grossly inaccurate entries, and a certification that he left no pending cases in his previous sala in the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 38.

The SC’s Office of the Court Administrator, in a memorandum dated Oct. 24, 2007, cited eight cases where Lee failed to render a decision before he assumed the position of RTC judge and which he also failed to include in his monthly report for August 2005.