Sunday, July 08, 2007 Suspension can cripple local courts By Karlon N. Rama Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE indefinite preventive suspension of four Cebu City judges over the alleged marriage scam leaves the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) undermanned.
Only Judges Monalila Tecson of MTCC Branch 1, Oscar Andrino of Branch 5 and Francisco Sevilla of Branch 7 are left on active duty, with Judges Rosabella Tormis, Anatalio Necesario, Edgemelo Rosales and Gil Acosta benched.
Judge Donato Navarro, the presiding judge of Branch 6 and whose statement to the press about the alleged scam involving civil weddings resulted in the mass suspension, is himself prohibited from hearing new cases.
Judge Sevilla, in his capacity as the MTCC executive judge, is handling all new cases for Navarro, pursuant to a Supreme Court order that directed the latter to clear his backlog.
Lawyer Rullyn Garcia, the Manila-based judicial supervisor for Central Visayas, said the four judges will be asked to air their side when the formal investigation begins.
He prepared the investigation report that resulted in the suspensions.
The formal investigation will start as soon as the Office of the Court Administrator designates an investigator to handle the proceedings.
Until then, Tormis, Necesario, Rosales and Acosta will remain under suspension. Their courts will be held by a pairing judge.
While Garcia denied it was the statements of Navarro that resulted in the investigation and suspensions—stressing that he even refused to accept information from Navarro at the height of his judicial audit—Court Administrator Christopher Lock said he learned of the scam from media reports.
The media reports relied on Navarro’s comment.
Lock said he brought the matter up with the Chief Justice, hence the investigation.
Navarro, in turn, made his marriage scam accusation after getting stung by a blind item about how an MTCC judge has only been reporting to work twice a month, the 15th and the 30th, to pick up his paycheck.
He admitted he hasn’t been going to his court but only because he works at home.
He suspected MTCC Judge Tormis, whom he’s been at odds with for years now, as the source of the blind item. Tormis denied the accusation.
Navarro said he was only referring to Tormis. But when the investigation snowballed and dragged the three other judges with it, Navarro could only express surprise.
“Three of the four judges are my friends,” he said in an interview. (KNR
