Friday, September 21, 2007 Suspended judge’s daughter owns poison letter to Econg
REGIONAL Trial Court (RTC) Judge Geraldine Faith Econg can stop wondering who made the poison letter against her that was circulated last July.
The daughter of suspended Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Judge Rosabella Tormis said the letter came from her.
In an interview with GMA 7 Balitang Bisdak, Jill Tormis disclosed that she was the source of the letter.
Jill said the letter was not meant to destroy Econg but to show that like her (Jill’s) mother, Econg is also a victim of clerk-of-court Helen Mongaya, whom Jill identified as the person behind the “marriage scam.”
Mongaya is the clerk-of-court of MTCC Branch 4 where Tormis presides.
Econg, for her part, will not file charges against Jill.
The letter alleged that some judges are hooked on drugs. It also said that Econg is involved in the scam.
Econg, who is handling the parricide case against Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association supreme leader Ruben Ecleo Jr., then underwent a drug test and tested negative.
The unsigned letter was addressed to Chief Justice Reynato Puno and the Office of the Court Administrator.
“We, the people of Cebu, have been following the events of the recent so-called marriage scam here in Cebu City and we noticed that some judges were missed out of the so-called list (of) scammers,” the letter read.
Tormis is under preventive suspension with MTCC Judges Anatalio Necesario, (Branch 2), Gil Acosta (Branch 3) and Edgemelo Rosales (Branch 8).
The preventive suspension came after the investigating team headed by lawyer Rullyn Garcia, the SC’s judicial supervisor for Central Visayas, came to Cebu to look into allegations that certain courts in Cebu City conduct marriages with undue haste and for an amount higher than the prescribed P300 marriage fee.
Mongaya was the employee “caught red-handed” by the investigating team.
Before starting the investigation, members of the team posed as a couple who wanted to get married.
The “couple” was then offered assistance for a hassle-free and prompt ceremony in exchange for a marriage fee higher than what is prescribed. (KNT)
