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Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Cebu Judge acted illegally on 518 drug cases: SC
* Supreme Court says then RTC judge Ireneo Lee Gako Jr. of Branch 5 acted, from 1998 to 2006, on 518 petitions for voluntary rehabilitation of drug dependents when they were not raffled and his court, not being a drug court, had no jurisdiction over it; Gako’s retirement benefits ordered withheld
* Also asked to explain: Monica Deonaldo, officer 3 of RTC, who personally took more than 500 cases to Gako’s court where legal researcher Nida Suico received them though she knew the petitions were not assigned to Branch 5
* Others ordered to explain the absence of raffle and failure to oversee their employees: Jeoffrey Joaquin, RTC head clerk of court, and lawyer Manuel Nollora, branch 5 clerk of court
* SC en banc resolution issued June 5, 2007, after investigator lawyer Rullyn Garcia submitted his recommendation
CEBU CITY –- In what could be another “scam” inside the Marcelo Fernan Hall of Justice, the Supreme Court (SC) directed several employees of the judiciary, including a retired judge, to show cause why no “disciplinary action” should be imposed upon them for “illegally acting on inordinate” number of petitions for voluntary rehabilitation of drug dependents.
In a resolution dated last June 12, the court en banc required retired Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 5 Judge Ireneo Lee Gako Jr. to explain why he acted on 518 petitions for voluntary rehabilitation of drug dependents from 1998 to 2006, despite the absence of a raffle and even if his court had no jurisdiction over them.
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Petition of such nature should only be acted upon by drug courts, the SC said. Branch 5 is considered a court of general jurisdiction.
Gako’s retirement benefits have been held in abeyance while the investigation is ongoing.
Monica Deonaldo, officer 3 of RTC, was also asked to explain why she didn’t submit the more than 500 petitions for raffle and instead personally brought them to Branch 5 where Nida Suico, the legal researcher, received them even if she knew that the petitions were not assigned to their court.
Jeoffrey Joaquino, head clerk of court of the RTC, and lawyer Manuel Nollora, the clerk of court of Branch 5, were ordered to enlighten the High Tribunal on why they failed to exercise control over Deonaldo and Suico, who were directly under them.
The resolution was based on the recommendations of lawyer Rullyn Garcia, the head of the investigation team that was here in Cebu last April upon the instructions of SC Administrator Christopher Lock.
In a telephone interview, Garcia said the investigation stemmed from the letter of former RTC Judge Simeon Dumdum, which was sent after Gako retired from service last year.
Dumdum, in the letter, asked for advice on how to go about the pending petitions of voluntary rehabilitation before Branch 5.
“The letter caught the attention of the SC because Branch 5 where Gako is the presiding judge is not a drugs court,” Garcia explained.
He, however, clarified that although there were “insinuations” that money was involved in the illegal proceedings, it was “never” established during the investigation.
Garcia also headed the investigation team that probed the marriage scam that led to the suspension of four Municipal Trial Court in Cities judges.
He disclosed that RTC Judge Meinrado Paredes also sent a letter to the SC asking it to investigate the said “irregularity,” but Garcia explained that they were already on it and have submitted their recommendations.
When sought for comment, Joaquino declined, saying he still has to receive a copy of the resolution.
But Garcia, who talked to Joaquino during the investigation, said the latter explained that he was not aware of the irregularity and only found out about it early this year and ordered it stopped.
The resolution also ordered Judge Ramon Daomilas Jr., the pairing judge of Branch 5, which was previously handled by Gako, to conduct an inventory of all pending petitions and transmit the same to RTC Executive Judge Fortunato de Gracia, who was also directed to “raffle” the petitions. (Katrina N. Tabanao of Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (August 7, 2007 issue)
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