Ex-Cabanatuan judge found guilty of sexual harassment

The Sandiganbayan yesterday sentenced a former municipal trial court judge in Cabanatuan City to five years’ imprisonment for sexually harassing a court employee on two occasions in 1997.

The anti-graft court’s first division found former MTC judge Rogelio Esteban guilty of two counts of sexual harassment and two counts of acts of lasciviousness.

The former judge was a godfather of the complainant in her wedding.

In a 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada and concurred by Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo and Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, Esteban was also ordered to pay the complainant P100,000 in moral damages.

The victim, whose name was withheld, accused Esteban of kissing her on two occasions in 2007 when she was working as a staffer in his MTC branch.

The complainant said Esteban first kissed her on the cheek on June 25, 1997 while she was asking him to sign her appointment as a bookbinder of court records.

“Ano naman ang magiging kapalit ng pagpirma ko rito? Mula ngayon girlfriend na kita. Araw-araw papasok ka dito sa opisina ko at araw-araw isang halik (What will I get in return for signing this? From now on you will be my girlfriend. Every day you have to give me a kiss),” she quoted him as saying during the hearing.

She recalled that the second harassment occurred on Aug. 5, 1997 when Esteban summoned her and inquired about her salary after her promotion.

When she told him she had received the increase, the judge asked why she did not give him a kiss.

The complainant said the judge then embraced her, kissed her all over her face and even touched her right breast. She said she resisted until the accused lost his hold.

The court stressed that it found strong evidence against Esteban, especially with the testimony of another court employee who corroborated the complainant’s accusations.

“The foregoing lustful and unwelcome repeated sexual advances made by the accused on the complainant, his subordinate employee, are an affront to women, and therefore, unmistakably constitute sexual harassment,” the decision stated.

In his defense, Esteban claimed that he could not have committed sexual harassment because the door of his room was always open and at the two dates cited by the complainant, there were “10 to 20 ballot boxes” stacked beside his table, which would have made any attempt to go after her impossible.

But the court apparently did not buy his alibi, saying the prosecution presented a witness who disproved his claim.

The anti-graft court further noted that the complainant’s testimony remained credible since the defense failed to present any evidence to show that the witness had any ill-motive to testify against the former judge.

The court said the mere denial of the accused cannot prevail over the combined testimonies of the complainant and the prosecution witnesses.

“The complainant... in a credible, candid, categorical and straightforward manner, declared in vivid detail her harrowing experiences in the hands of the accused. (She) affirmed all these declarations unshaken by cross-examinations and unflawed by inconsistencies and contradictions in their material points, and therefore, she deserves the court’s full faith and belief,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The Supreme Court dismissed Esteban from the service in 1999.