Thursday, March 13, 2003
Clerk faces case for ‘hiding’ records of case vs. nephew
By Karlon N. Rama
A CRIMINAL and administrative case has been filed against a Municipal Trial Court (MTC) clerk for her alleged “deliberate concealment” of some stenographic notes believed to be vital to the case filed against her nephew.
Edwin Fonghe and Maharlika Canata, both of Dalaguete, Cebu, filed the complaint against Cynthia Bajarias Cartilla before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro ordered the complaint upgraded into a full-blown criminal and administrative case and, as stated in a letter sent by Ombudsman Administrative Officer Elpidio Montecillo, asked for periodic reports.
In their joint affidavit prepared by lawyer Ivan Herrero, Fonghe and Canata said Cartilla is the designated clerk of court for the MTC in Dalaguete.
That court, they revealed, is hearing a string of cases, mostly for grave threats and physical injuries, against one Peter Bejarasco Jr. It had convicted Bejarasco in one of the cases.
They said Bejarasco, after the conviction, filed an appeal before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Argao, which took action by asking the MTC in Dalaguete to turn over all the records of that particular case for review.
Cartilla allegedly failed to turn over the records, including the transcript of stenographic notes of some hearings, and has manifested that she does not have them anymore.
The complainants said this has resulted to the delay in the resolution of the appeal.
As it turned out, they stressed, Bejarasco is Cartilla’s nephew.
“Respondent is trying to remove or conceal the records of the aforementioned cases for the obvious reason that she is trying to delay the resolution of the appealed case,” they said.
They argued that Cartilla got rid of the documents, which were officially entrusted to her by virtue of her office.
(March 13, 2003 issue)
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