High Court urged to act on complaints vs Bataan judge

BALANGA, Bataan — Members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in this province want the Supreme Court to act immediately on a string of cases they and other parties have filed against a Municipal Circuit Trial Court judge for alleged ignorance of the law, grave abuse of authority, oppression, dereliction of duty and violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

Dante Ilaya, former president of the IBP Bataan chapter, said members of the bar in this province are baffled by the delay in the resolution of cases, some of which were filed way back in 1996, against Judge Reynaldo Belosillo of the municipal courts in Orani and Samal towns.

A court official in Bataan said Belosillo has also been appointed to cover other Bataan towns despite the unresolved cases, one of which was filed by movie industry mogul Lily Monteverde of Regal Films.

Monteverde charged Belosillo with issuing an unjust "interlocutory order" and gross ignorance of the law in a complaint she filed on Nov. 8, 1996.

Ilaya said eight administrative cases have been filed by practicing lawyers and litigants against the MCTC judge, including those pending with the High Court and the Court Administrator.

Among the lawyers who were reported to have filed the cases were Filemon Manlutac, Ricardo Solomon and Angelito Lumabas.

The bus firm Victory Liner Inc. also filed another case of dereliction of duty, gross ignorance of the law, grave abuse of authority and oppression against Belosillo on July 7 last year after the judge allegedly imposed a bond for the release of its impounded bus in addition to the cash bail required for the liberty of its driver who got involved in an accident.

Another IBP officer said the Office of the Court Administrator has reportedly recommended Belosillo’s preventive suspension to the Supreme Court pending the investigation and resolution of the cases against him.

"Although other judges facing lesser administrative complaints have been suspended by the High Court, Belosillo has not been meted any disciplinary action," said another IBP member.

Belosillo is reportedly the president of the Municipal Trial Court Judges Association of the Philippines.

Among the other cases against the judge were for alleged violation of the constitutional right to speedy trial filed by one Ruben Ching on April 17, 1997, and gross misconduct filed by Lamberto Reyes and Remigio Vinzon last year.

The Bonifacio Law Office also filed cases of ignorance of the law, grave abuse of discretion and gross misconduct against Belosillo on July 1, 1998, while lawyer Manolo Velasco accused the judge of dereliction of duty and violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct in a case he filed on Sept. 15 last year. — Ding Cervantes