October 2009 - Philippine Supreme Court Decisions/Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence
A.M. No. P-08-2567 Formerly OCA I.P.I. No. 99-670-P and A.M. NO. P-08-2568 Formerly OCA I.P.I No. 99-753-P - Joana Gilda L. Leyrit, et al. v. Nicolasito S. Solas, Clerk of Court IV, Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC), Iloilo City
THIRD DIVISION
[A.M. NO. P-08-2567 : October 30, 2009]
(Formerly OCA I.P.I. No. 99-670-P)
JOANA GILDA L. LEYRIT, ASUNCION ESPINOSA, MARY ANN LASPI�AS, NATIVIDAD SULLIVAN, ELENA MOLARTE SOLAS, JULIE FELARCA and RENE F. GANZON, Complainants, v. NICOLASITO S. SOLAS, CLERK OF COURT IV, MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURT IN CITIES (MTCC), ILOILO CITY, Respondent.
[A.M. NO. P-08-2568]
(Formerly OCA I.P.I No. 99-753-P)
MA. THERESA ZERRUDO, MARY ANN F. LASPI�AS, ELENA MOLARTE SOLAS, MA. NATIVIDAD A. SULLIVAN, RENE F. GANZON, JOANNA GILDA J. LEYRIT, SALVACION D. SERMONIA, JULIE L. FELARCA, MARICAR A. LARROZA, ASUNCION O. ESPINOSA, EMMA DELA CRUZ, SALVACION VILLANUEVA and NOENA DAQUERO, Complainants, v. NICOLASITO S. SOLAS, CLERK OF COURT IV, MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURT IN CITIES (MTCC), ILOILO CITY, Respondent.
R E S O L U T I O N
CHICO-NAZARIO, J.:
Before the Court are administrative matters that arose from two administrative complaints filed by several employees of the Office of the Clerk of Court (OCC), Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC), Iloilo City, against Nicolasito S. Solas, Clerk of Court of the said trial court.
The Complaint, docketed as A.M. No. P-08-2567 (OCA IPI No. 99-670-P),1 was filed by complainants Joanna Gilda Leyrit (Leyrit), Asuncion Espinosa (Espinosa), Mary Ann Laspi�as (Laspi�as), Natividad Sullivan (Sullivan), Elena Molarte Solas (Molarte Solas), Julie Felarca (Felarca), and Rene F. Ganzon (Ganzon) seeking to have respondent held administratively liable for Dishonesty, Discourtesy in the Course of Official Duties, Willful Violation of Office Regulations, and Violation of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The Complaint, docketed as A.M. P-08-2568 (OCA IPI No. 99-753-P) was filed by the same complainants in A.M. No. P-08-2567 and was further joined by Mrs. Ma. Theresa G. Zerrudo (Mrs. Zerrudo), Salvacion Sermonia (Sermonia), Maricar A. Larroza (Larroza), Emma de la Cruz (De la Cruz), Salvacion Villanueva (Villanueva), and Noena Daquero (Daquero), charging respondent with harassment, abuse of authority, grave misconduct, conduct unbecoming a public official, graft and corruption, oppression, and nepotism.2
Complainants made the following allegations against respondent in their two Complaints:
1. Respondent had notarized documents and administrative oaths not related to his official functions, and charged notarial fees for the same.
2. Respondent pretended to be a lawyer even though he was not, and never corrected persons addressing him as "attorney."
3. Respondent acted arrogantly as Clerk of Court, Chief of Office, and Ex-Officio Sheriff, requiring the OCC-MTCC personnel to obey him (respondent) even if he was wrong. He humiliated and shouted vindictive words at complainants in the presence of other people. At one instance, respondent insulted complainant Leyrit in the presence of many people inside the office by uttering the following words: "Daw si bilat-bilat ka guid, maisog, daw ilupot mo ako sa bulsa mo." (As if you are already somebody. You are brave as if you will insert me into your pocket.) Respondent likewise embarrassed complainant Mrs. Zerrudo by posting a notice in the MTCC premises enjoining the public not to transact official business with the latter because of her detail to another court.
4. Respondent controlled the local and national funds for office supplies, and disposed of them without consulting the MTCC judges. In fact, respondent acquired a computer worth
P70,000.00 using local funds without the approval of the Executive Judge. The said computer was being used exclusively by respondent's five favored locally funded employees, detailed to the OCC-MTCC, who brought their small children to play with it. In addition, respondent did not share office supplies with complainants. Hence, complainants were forced to provide their own office supplies or borrow from other courts.Whenever respondent was out of the office, requests for office supplies had to be coursed through the five favored local employees, who were not assigned specific office functions, but were being utilized by respondent for his personal needs. These five favored local employees loitered during office hours and did not declare their tardiness and absences in their daily time records. In contrast, respondent immediately made reports to the Executive Judge about, and/or issued memoranda to, the regular OCC-MTCC employees who went out of the office during office hours.
5. Respondent allowed his personal lawyer, Atty. Virgilia Carmen Dioquino (Atty. Dioquino), to hold office at the OCC-MTCC and to utilize office computers and supplies, as well as the services of local employees as typing clerks. Atty. Dioquino prepared baseless administrative complaints, which respondent filed against judges and employees of the MTCC, thus, demoralizing those concerned.
6. Respondent established connections with lending institutions and banks and acted as the collector whenever such lending institutions and banks filed cases in court. He further attended the weekly raffle of cases, so he could get a list of raffled cases, which he distributed to banks and lending institutions in exchange for monthly honoraria. When complainants confronted respondent regarding this matter, respondent filed administrative cases against them.
7. Respondent ordered security guards Valentino Alonsagay and Ricardo Besen to monitor and report complainants' activities.
8. Lastly, respondent exposed to the public, through radio and newsprint, all misunderstandings and differences between the local employees detailed to the OCC-MTCC and the regular OCC-MTCC employees.
In his separate Comments3 on the aforementioned Complaints, respondent proffered the following defenses:
1. Although he did notarize documents that were not related to his official functions, respondent maintained that he had erroneously thought that some subscriptions or oaths were jurats. Anyway, he had already talked to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and Executive Judge Severino C. Aguilar of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 35, Iloilo City, about the matter.
2. There were some people who addressed respondent as "attorney," assuming that he was one because of his position as Clerk of Court. Respondent contended that although he was not a bar passer, he was a graduate of law and, thus, there was no necessity to correct people who addressed him as "attorney," especially in communications addressed to his position.
3. According to respondent, there was peace, harmony, and respect among the OCC-MTCC employees until Mrs. Ma. Theresa G. Zerrudo (Mrs. Zerrudo), Clerk of Court III, was transferred to the said office. Soon after, complainant Mrs. Zerrudo instigated misunderstandings and intrigues among the employees, particularly between the local employees detailed at the OCC-MTCC and the regular OCC-MTCC employees.
Since complainant Mrs. Zerrudo was instrumental in the employment of complainants Leyrit, Espinosa, Laspi�as, Sullivan, and Felarca at the OCC-MTCC, the said five complainants owed their loyalty to her. Meanwhile, respondent's own daughter-in-law, complainant Molarte Solas, began to dislike and disrespect him because, for ethical reasons, he refused to recommend her for promotion.
Complainants defied, disobeyed, and refused to recognize respondent as the head of office and, instead, followed orders from complainant Mrs. Zerrudo's husband, Judge Zerrudo. Whenever respondent corrected errors committed by complainants in the performance of their duties, complainants would fight back and show their disrespect for and defiance of him, even in public. Complainants Leyrit and Molarte Solas, criminal and civil clerks-in-charge, respectively, went as far as depriving respondent access to the docket books by keeping and locking the said books inside Mrs. Zerrudo's office cubicle.
Respondent also narrated that on 7 June 1999, then Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide detailed complainant Mrs. Zerrudo to the OCC of the RTC, Iloilo City, but despite said detail order, she continued to report for work and stay in her cubicle at the OCC-MTCC. This prompted Jose Bryan Hilary P. Davide, Staff Head of the Chief Justice, to issue an order directing her to strictly comply with the detail order. Suspecting that respondent was behind the moves against her, complainant Mrs. Zerrudo gathered the other complainants and filed the instant Complaints against respondent to get even with him.
4. Respondent was not controlling the office supplies. He had to keep his office closed, because it was where he kept the daily collections, receipts, and confidential documents of the court. Also, complainants should not have made a big deal about his computer from the city government. The city government gave a computer not only to respondent, but also to complainant Mrs. Zerrudo.
5. Atty. Dioquino was not holding office in the OCC-MTCC and using office computers and supplies, as she had her own office at her residence. Atty. Dioquino only dropped by the OCC-MTCC occasionally to greet respondent. The latter did admit that Atty. Dioquino was his counsel of record in the criminal and administrative cases he filed against Mrs. Zerrudo and Salvacion Sermonia, but averred that he prepared his own complaints and submitted them to Atty. Dioquino for correction and finalization.
6. Complainants' allegations on respondent's purported connections with lending institutions and banks were baseless and unsupported by evidence. Respondent attended the raffle of cases to ensure that complainant Leyrit, a member of the Raffle Committee, who had multiple cases of Violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22, would not be able to manipulate the conduct of raffle.
7. Lastly, respondent commissioned security guards to his office because of the incident that transpired sometime in January 1996. A court employee, Salvacion Sermonia of MTCC Iloilo City, loyal to complainant Mrs. Zerrudo, physically attacked and assaulted respondent with a knife inside his office during office hours. The incident resulted in the filing of cases, two criminal and one administrative, which were eventually settled.
Respondent maintained that the Complaints were merely counter-charges against him because of the administrative cases he filed against complainants Leyrit and Mrs. Zerrudo, and the latter's husband, Judge Alexis A. Zerrudo (Judge Zerrudo).
After consolidation of A.M. No. P-08-2567 (OCA IPI No. 99-670-P) and OCA IPI No. 99-753-P (A.M. P-08-2568), the cases were assigned to Executive Judge Roger B. Patricio (Investigating Judge) of the RTC, Branch 36, Iloilo City, for investigation.???�r?bl?�