Friday, July 06, 2007 SC probers refuse to hear judges’ side
SOME judges tried to explain their side before the Supreme Court (SC) team tasked to investigate the alleged marriage scam in certain Cebu courts but were rebuffed.
Lawyer Rullyn Garcia, head of the nine-member investigating panel, begged off from hearing the judges’ side, saying that if the judges will be prosecuted, “they will be given their day in court.”
Garcia, though, refused to give details on the result of their fact-finding investigation on four branches of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) and one Regional Trial Court (RTC).
The investigating panel prioritized the five courts based on the order of Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno.
“My findings and recommendations are only for the eyes of the Chief Justice,” Garcia told reporters.
Vital information
He also said that in their interviews, some of the employees disclosed vital information about the alleged “wedding coordination scheme.”
The panel received letters from couples who reported paying more than P300, the standard fee for solemnizing a marriage as specified under the law.
As of yesterday, RTC and MTCC courts other than the five that were earlier investigated are also being looked into, Garcia said. He earlier said they are not singling out the five courts in the probe.
Garcia also corrected a report that came out in a local newspaper yesterday (not Sun.Star Cebu), saying he was misquoted.
He explained that investigation results did not include the findings that couples bypass the requirement of a marriage license by swearing that they’ve been living together as husband and wife for five years.
Not dismissed
Under the Family Code of 1987, a marriage license is not needed if the contracting parties have been living together for five years.
Garcia also clarified that contrary to the published report, the complaint on the scam that the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas forwarded to the Office of the Court Administrator in 2006 has not been dismissed yet.
He also corrected a published report that the Chief Justice ordered the investigation after receiving the complaint from MTCC Judge Donato Navarro, who first exposed the scam.
Garcia said that Judge Navarro had nothing to do with the probe, and that Puno ordered the investigation after personally receiving a complaint when he visited Cebu last week. (KNT)
