EDITORIAL - A strong warning

CEBU, Philippines - The dismissal of Judge RosabellaTormis by the Supreme Court should serve as a serious warning to magistrates who are sitting on their jobs. It's high time the country's judicial leadership should clean up its ranks to get rid of those erring judges.

The High Court dismissed Tormis after it found her guilty of gross ignorance of the law, gross inefficiency and violation of SC rules. The SC found that Tormis, presiding judge of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 4, failed to decide on some cases within the mandatory period.

Part of Tormis' offense was her failure to issue a warrant of arrest “without first appraising the accused of the charge.” The judge has been suspended three times before by the SC for abuse of authority, dishonesty and grave misconduct.

But despite her suspensions, Tormis has been found to have not done to improve her performance based on the investigation by an audit team. This prompted the Office of the Court Administrator to file a complaint before the High Court.

Aside from Tormis, the SC also dismissed MTCC clerk of court Reynaldo Teves from service for two counts of simple neglect of duty. In handing down the penalty, the SC forfeited all the benefits and privileges of Tormis and Teves.

Of course, Tormis and Teves would deny the allegations against them. In their reply, they denied having been remiss in their duties. But the evidence presented by the audit team was so damning that the High Court ruled that they indeed committed offenses that would merit their dismissal.

We hope that the SC is serious in its drive to clean the judiciary of erring judges. We cannot deny the fact that, there are many judges across the country who committed grave offenses worthy of dismissal.

At least the judicial leadership, with its dismissal of Tormis, is now sending a strong warning that it is no longer tolerating inefficiency in dispensing justice.