Saturday, September 29, 2007 No more special raffle for marriages in court
ACTING Regional Trial Court (RTC) Executive Judge Ramon Codilla Jr. has banned the special raffle of marriages inside the Palace of Justice.
In a memorandum, Codilla said “all application for marriage must be filed in advance with the Office of the Clerk of Court as the solemnization of marriage is now raffled to RTC courts, no special raffle will be allowed.”
In an interview, Codilla explained that he issued the memorandum after seeing that almost all parties who want to get married avail themselves of the special raffle.
“Almost always, the judge where the marriage was raffled will inhibit himself because he either has hearings or is doing something important. The judge is not always available. Why should a special raffle be made when there is regular raffling every Monday where the judge assigned will be informed earlier for him to adjust his schedule?” Codilla said.
The judge also said that this is also another way of discouraging corruption among employees.
When the issue on the so-called “marriage scam” broke out, RTC Executive Judge Fortunato de Gracia and Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Executive Judge Oscar Andrino issued a joint memorandum ordering that the solemnizing magistrate will be chosen strictly by raffle.
De Gracia is now on leave.
The memorandum also states that “a special raffle may be granted for meritorious reasons.”
Four MTCC judges were put under preventive suspension over the issue.
Meanwhile, Codilla also disclosed another “racket” of employees, which could be a scam in itself.
The judge was referring to the notarial services offered by private lawyers.
Codilla said that these lawyers have a book where they will log the documents they notarized.
The book will then be surrendered to the Office of the Clerk of Court.
But there are talks that the one in charge of these books has a racket where they will issue a certificate to a person in exchange for cash.
The certificate will state that the document was notarized on the date the person wanted to appear.
“They will change the document,” said Codilla.
He, however, clarified that no complainants have surfaced yet but he already informed lawyer Rullyn Garcia of the issue. Garcia is the head of the investigating panel, which probed the marriage scam.
He is also the one looking into the “annulment” and “bail bond” scams. (KNT)
