Supreme Court begins probe of Cebu RTC judge

CEBU — The Supreme Court has started its two-pronged investigation into the decision of a Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge in Barili town convicting a self-confessed accomplice in the killing of the wife of cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr.

Supreme Court deputy administrator Christopher Lock arrived in Cebu the other day and went to the sala of Barili RTC Judge Ildefonso Suerte.

Lock said the results of the investigation would be kept confidential.

In an interview with GMA-7 Cebu, Lock said the probe would look into two main angles: the propriety of Suerte’s decision convicting Cedrick Devinadera, and whether the judge defied the High Court’s administrative order designating Judge Leopoldo Cañete to handle new cases in his branch starting last March 3.

The Supreme Court has ordered Suerte to conduct an inventory of all the cases he is handling.

GMA-7 has gathered that Suerte’s sala handles a total of 700 cases, including 468 criminal and 170 civil cases.

The Supreme Court initiated the probe after the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Cebu City chapter issued a resolution urging the tribunal to investigate the matter.

The IBP also asked the Justice Department to investigate assistant provincial prosecutor Vicente Mañalac who resolved the murder complaint filed against Devinadera by Jaime Bacolod, said to be a cousin of Ecleo’s wife Alona Bacolod.

While Devinadera was arraigned for murder last April 23, Suerte convicted him on May 7 of a lesser offense — as accessory to homicide — with a jail sentence of four to eight years.

But the IBP argued that the plea bargaining agreement between Devinadera and his accuser, Jaime Bacolod, was anomalous because the real offended parties in Alona’s killing are her surviving brothers.

The IBP also questioned why Suerte convicted Devinadera despite the pending parricide case against Ecleo, who was charged in 2002 as a primary suspect in his wife’s killing. — Freeman News Service