Court administrator airs side

Just a few points on the twin columns of Mr. Jarius Bondoc, i.e., “Though convicted of graft, this judge continued to rule” (published 12 May 2014) and “Judicial and Bar Council, Court Administrator faulted for judge’s posting” (published 14 May 2014):

1) The Office of the Court Administrator is NOT the secretariat of the Judicial and Bar Council. The JBC has its own secretariat.

2) The mandate of the Court Administrator in supervising judges only begins once the judge is appointed. He is not a member of the JBC and has no vote during its deliberations.

3) The supervisory powers of the Office of the Court Administrator over judges DO NOT include the power to suspend. Just the same, Judge Cedric Joseph O. Ruiz was eventually suspended by the Court, upon the recommendation of the Office of the Court Administrator.

4) Mr. Domingo Mariano is NOT a lawyer. He is supposedly an idle carpenter of a suspended Metro Manila judge who filed a litany of cases against those who sued the now suspended judge. He also filed an administrative case against the Court Administrator which the Supreme Court dismissed on 25 February 2014 for “being baseless and unsubstantiated and for its titter lack of merit.’ Please interview Mr. Mariano.

5) The Office of the Court Administrator was already investigating Judge Ruiz even before the twin columns of Mr. Bondoc found print.

— JOSE MIDAS P. MARQUEZ, Court Administrator