Case Digest (A.M. No. P-11-2912)
Facts:
Office of the Court Administrator v. Mary Lou C. Sarmiento and Arturo F. Anatalio, A.M. No. P-11-2912, April 10, 2012, the Supreme Court En Banc, Carpio, J., writing for the Court. Complainant Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) charged Mary Lou C. Sarmiento, Interpreter II, Branch 57, Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) of San Juan City, and Arturo F. Anatalio, Sheriff, Branch 58, MeTC San Juan, with administrative offenses arising from irregularities in the records of Criminal Case No. 44739 (part of two consolidated bouncing-checks cases) that had been transferred from Branch 57 to Branch 58.The matter traces to Chua v. Sorio, in which the Court found Presiding Judge Eleanor A. Sorio guilty of grave misconduct for mismanaging records and fined her. Complainant Rufina Chua had discovered apparent interchanging of check particulars in the decision, alterations in exhibit markings, missing pages in exhibits 26–31, and a missing transcript of stenographic notes (TSN) dated February 17, 1999. The OCA directed an inquiry by Executive Judge Elvira D.C. Panganiban of the MeTC, who confirmed the missing TSN and inconsistencies between the TSNs and the formal offer of evidence; the records had been transmitted to Branch 58 after the inhibition of Branch 57’s judge.
The Court referred the matter for further investigation to RTC Pasig (Judge Amelia Manalastas), where Sorio testified and implicated Sarmiento as the one who marked exhibits and Anatalio as the one who allegedly retrieved the TSN. Sarmiento admitted marking exhibits and collating TSNs into a separate volume; she testified she lent the TSN to Anatalio upon his request and that he never returned it. Judge Manalastas recommended dismissal of Sorio for falsification and gross dishonesty, but the OCA downgraded Sorio’s liability to simple neglect of duty and proposed a lighter sanction; the Court, however, later found Sorio guilty of grave misconduct and dismissed her.
Because Sarmiento and Anatalio had not been respondents in the original complaint, the Court directed further investigation into their possible administrative liability. RTC Pasig First Vice Executive Judge Isagani A. Geronimo, after hearings, recommended exoneration of both respondents, finding plausible explanations: the TSN for February 17, 1999 reflected a cancelled hearing; the supposed alterations to passbooks arose because photocopies, not originals, were offered before Branch 58; and Anatalio merely complied with Judge Maxwel Rosete’s request to retrieve the records and turned them over immediately. The OCA, however, issued a Memorandum recommending that both be found guilty of simple neglect of duty (suspension of one month and one day) because the insertion of Exhibit 12 and incomplete indexing occurred while the records were still in Sarmiento’s custody and because Sarmiento and Anatalio failed in their duties to preserve the integrity...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Are Mary Lou C. Sarmiento and Arturo F. Anatalio guilty of simple neglect of duty that warrants the imposition of the penalty of suspens...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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