Tuesday, October 07, 2008 Judge ‘calls’ lawyer Steven Seagal, faces raps
FOR calling a lawyer “Steven Seagal” and allegedly prejudging his cases, a Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) clerk of court is facing administrative cases before the Supreme Court.
For these and other alleged offenses, MTCC Branch 4 clerk of court Reynaldo Teves was slapped with five counts of gross discourtesy, five counts of grave abuse of authority, five counts of conduct prejudicial to judicial service and two counts of corruption.
The complainant is lawyer Rameses Victorious Villagonzalo.
Villagonzalo also accused MTCC 4 sheriff Jose Bascar of gross discourtesy, conduct prejudicial to judicial service and corruption.
The accusations stem from different incidents, reaching back from 2005.
Villagonzalo alleged that Teves “prejudged” his application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a case of forcible entry against a certain George “Jojo” Oquias.
That was three years ago, when Villagonzalo’s clients, Desiderio and Flordeliza Operario, went to MTCC 4.
Teves was allegedly reading and commenting aloud that the Operarios failed to show sufficient basis for a TRO against Oquias in the forcible entry case.
A month later, the application for a TRO was denied.
In an affidavit, the Operarios supported Villagon-zalo’s claim that Teves asked the couple to give Bascar P300 as “transportation allowance” in order to serve the summons for their case.
In a separate incident on Feb. 11, 2005, Villagonzalo allegedly saw Teves “demanding” P100 from a lady court personnel who asked him for immediate notarization.
Villagonzalo narrated that Teves showed the lady his empty wallet.
Teves, however, denied this.
Another wound that Villagonzalo has been nursing against Teves is the latter’s alleged discourtesy in addressing him for the past four years.
“Twice when he saw me in the corridors of the Palace of Justice, he shouted at me as ‘Steven Seagal’ where he drew attention from the public,” Villagonzalo stated.
Seagal is an American actor made popular for his starring roles in action flicks.
However, Teves told reporters that it was not true that he shouted “Steven Seagal” at the lawyer.
“I only said ‘Steven Seagal’ softly,” Teves explained in Bisaya.
Villagonzalo added that in another incident last March 2008, two of his clients complained that Teves treated them in a “very discourteous, impolite and arrogant” manner.
He also accused Teves and Bascar of mocking him with a joke involving Oquias, the defendant in the Operarios spouse’s case.
“The over-all personality and attitude showed by the respondents... deserves a second look with microscopic intensity,” the lawyer’s complaint read, adding that other
lawyers had also complained against Teves’ conduct.
In an interview, Teves said that these are matters that can be settled.
“(Villagonzalo) is magnifying it,” Teves said.
He said that if the lawyer will “push me to the limit”, he might ask to have him disbarred. In the meantime, Teves said he will just answer to the Supreme Court.
Villagonzalo also contested Teves’ claim that he had never won a case at MTCC 4. (KAB)
