Wednesday, October 24, 2007 SC team to hear defense of Toledo judge
THE judge allegedly involved in the “annulment scam” in the city of Toledo is expected to defend himself today before the panel of investigators.
Lawyer Rullyn Garcia, Supreme Court judicial supervisor for Central Visayas and head of the six-member investigating team, said they will talk to the judge before they submit their full report to SC Chief Justice Reynato Puno.
The judge will also be apprised of the results of the investigation and full judicial audit.
Garcia earlier said their initial findings confirm reports that the judge has been “lax” in disposing of petitions for nullity of marriages.
He also disclosed that the investigation showed that the problem in the Toledo Regional Trial Court (RTC) is not only limited to the disposition of annulment petitions.
A source, who asked not to be named, said a judge handled a case involving himself and granted the petition of a convicted murderer to stay at home at night and return to the prison cell in the morning.
Garcia also said they investigated some court personnel who may have a hand in the alleged irregularities.
However, he refused to confirm if money changed hands.
Numerous
Likewise, he declined to say if the government employee who complained after receiving a fake annulment decision before the RTC in Cebu City is one of the numerous “beneficiaries” of the instant annulment proceedings in Toledo.
“I won’t confirm nor deny it. Just read between the lines,” Garcia said.
Anna (not her real name), through lawyer Eugene Sumampong, sought the help of RTC Clerk of Court Jeoffrey Joaquino last month after a court employee, who has been her “facilitator,” failed to return the P22,000 she paid him to get a fast and favorable decision on a marriage involving a woman with the same name as hers.
The complaint filed by Anna was the basis of the SC to investigate the RTC Cebu that eventually led to the investigation in the city of Toledo. (KNT)
