Persistently erroneous

The intransigence and persistence of a judge to remain in error for a long period does not only constitute plain and simple ignorance. This is illustrated in this case of a Municipal Trial Court (MTC) judge, (Judge LTM).

As MTC Judge, LTM conducts preliminary investigation of criminal cases. Since January 2000, she had already investigated at least 370 cases most of which are within the jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court because of the gravity of the offenses. Some of them are drug-related. In the investigation, she would erroneously issue orders denominated as “Detention Pending Investigation of the Case” which she claimed were implied waivers of the rights of the accused under the Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code. But even after her attention was already called that this was erroneous, she insisted in her erroneous belief and continued such practice.

Worse was that following an audit conducted by the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA), it was found that Judge LTM dismissed the cases after concluding the preliminary investigation but did not forward her resolutions together with their records to the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor (OPP) for appropriate action within a period which spanned as long as seven years despite the provision of the Rules of Court (Rule 112 Section 5) requiring her, as part of her ministerial duty, to forward them within ten (10) days only.

In view of these findings, the OCA recommended her dismissal for gross ignorance of the law especially because on three other separate occasions, she was also found guilty of the same offense and also because of incompetence and gross misconduct.

Judge LTM however claimed her issuing the “Detention Pending Investigation” Orders were not motivated by bad faith, dishonesty or some other similar motive. And as to her failure to transmit the resolution and records of the cases after preliminary investigation, she claimed that it was not her fault but that of her clerk of court. So she pleaded that dismissal was too harsh. Was she correct?

No. Her tenacious adherence to the wrong procedure of issuing orders of “Detention Pending Investigation” made her unfit to discharge her judicial office. More than mere ignorance of applicable laws and jurisprudence, her intransigence and persistence in error results in the people’s loss of faith in her as an administrator of justice. She has lost not only her right to be respectfully addressed as ‘Honorable Judge” but also her right to continue in the judicial service.

She cannot blame her clerk of court for the failure to transmit the records to the OPP. It remains her duty as a judge to devise an efficient recording and filing system in her court to enable her to monitor the flow of cases and to manage their speedy and timely disposition. If she was diligent in the performance of her obligations and responsibilities, the records of the cases which were not forwarded should not have reached an alarming number.

Her unjustifiable failure to forward to the OPP the cases which she dismissed after preliminary investigation shows that there is more than meets the eye than what she portrays as simple unawareness. Her omission or oversight which remained uncorrected for a period which spanned seven years smacks of malice and bad faith rather than pure and plain ignorance. Hence she is liable for gross misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

Taken altogether, the infractions committed by LTM including her other prior serious offenses in three other cases prove her incorrigibility and unfitness to be a judge and therefore warrant the imposition of the penalty of dismissal with forfeiture of all benefits due her excluding her accrued leaves and with perpetual disqualification to reinstatement or appointment to other public office (Espanol vs. Toledo-Mupas, A.M. MTJ-03-1462. February 11, 2010, 612 SCRA 211).

Note: Books containing compilation of my articles on Labor Law and Criminal Law (Vols. I and II) are now available. Call Tel. 7249445.

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