Saturday, October 11, 2008 SC ruling vindicates me, says Sarmiento
REGIONAL Trial Court (RTC) Judge Olegario Sarmiento yesterday said he was vindicated by the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the administrative case against him and two others.
The complainant, however, said it was no cause for celebration.
“I must stress that the dismissal was not on its actual merits but on mere technicality or procedural grounds. Hence, the resolution of the Supreme Court cannot be deemed an exoneration or vindication of the judges,” said Joaquin Borromeo, who filed the case against Sarmiento, Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 1 Judge Monalila Tecson and San Fernando Municipal Trial Court Judge Glenda Go.
Sarmiento, however, said otherwise.
“It’s a vindication... I was exonerated from the administrative case. In the judicial aspect, my decision then was appealed to the RTC, which affirmed my decision that eventually became final and executory,” Sarmiento told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
The 1999 decision that became final and executory was also the basis of the decision of Judges Go and Tecson that became a subject for the administrative case Borromeo filed before the Supreme Court for gross ignorance of the law and obstruction of justice.
The root of the administrative case was an ejectment case Borromeo filed against a businessman in the late 1990s. Sarmiento, who handled the case as an MTCC judge, allowed a third-party complaint and eventually dismissed all complaints.
The third-party complaint was opposed by Borromeo. But subsequent motions adjudged by Go and Tecson, grounded on Sarmiento’s earlier dismissal, prompted Borromeo to implead the two other judges in the administrative case.
The Supreme Court, however, resolved that the complaint pertained to the judges’ judicial function and an administrative complaint was not proper, especially in the absence of fraud, bad faith, evil intention or corrupt motive. (JGA)
