Case Digest (A.M. No. MTJ-03-1505)
Facts:
Mamasaw Sultan Ali v. Hon. Baguinda-Ali Pacalna, A.M. No. MTJ-03-1505 (Formerly OCA IPI No. 03-1363-MTJ), November 27, 2013, Supreme Court First Division, Villarama, Jr., J., writing for the Court.The case concerns a Petition for Absolute Judicial Clemency filed by Baguinda-Ali A. Pacalna (respondent), former Presiding Judge of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC), Balindong, Lanao del Sur, seeking reduction of the disciplinary penalty previously imposed on him. The administrative complaint giving rise to the penalty was brought by Mamasaw Sultan Ali and resulted in this Court’s Decision dated September 25, 2007 (reported as Sultan Ali v. Judge Pacalna, 560 Phil. 275 (2007)), where respondent was found administratively liable for dishonesty, serious misconduct and gross ignorance of the law or procedure and penalized with a P20,000 fine plus a warning.
Respondent did not file a motion for reconsideration of the 2007 decision and paid the P20,000 fine on December 3, 2007. Thereafter, a separate administrative complaint (A.M. No. MTJ-11-1791, formerly OCA IPI No. 08-1958-MTJ) was filed by several Marawi City police officers alleging misuse of judicial authority in relation to custody of a detainee; the Court’s First Division, on August 17, 2011, adopted the OCA findings and recommended respondent’s liability for grave misconduct and a six-month suspension converted to forfeiture of six months’ salary, and endorsed the matter to the OCA Legal Office for criminal charges for violation of P.D. No. 1829 (Obstruction of Justice).
Respondent filed a motion for reconsideration of the second administrative case which was denied by the Court’s Second Division on January 23, 2013; a criminal complaint for Obstruction of Justice was filed with the Office of the Ombudsman for Mindanao on September 4, 2013, and the OCA certified on October 25, 2013 that P209,810.70 (equivalent to six months’ salary) was deducted from respondent’s terminal leave benefits. Respondent had resigned on December 1, 2009 while the second administrative proceeding was pending.
Respondent applied for appointment to the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 9, Marawi City, and claims to have been interviewed by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) in November 2012; he asserts the penalty in the 2007 decision as the only bar to nomination and thus petitioned the Court for clemency to reduce the fine to P10,000. The Court considered respondent’s plea against the standards this Court established for judicial cl...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Is the petition for judicial clemency of Baguinda-Ali A. Pacalna meritorious and should the P20,000 fine imposed in A.M. No. MTJ-03-1505 be reduced to P10,000?
- Does the existence of a subsequent administrative finding of grave misconduct (A.M. No. MTJ-11-1791) and related criminal referral (P.D. No. 1829) affect respondent’s entit...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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