THIRD
DIVISION
MANUEL
T. PEPINO,
Complainant,
A. M. No. RTJ-96-1339
January 29, 1997
-versus-
JUDGE
TIBING A. ASAALI, RTC,
Branch 17, Zamboanga City,
Respondent.
D
E C I S I O N
NARVASA, C.J.:
Manuel T.
Pepino has accused Judge Tibing A.
Asaali of Branch 17, Regional Trial Court of Zamboanga City, of failing
to decide Civil Case No. 3965 within the reglementary period therefor.
According to Pepino, Civil Case No. 3965, in which he is the plaintiff,
was submitted for decision after the defendants rested their case
sometime
in March, 1992. After the lapse of one year without a judgment being
handed
down, he filed a motion for resolution of the case. This was in 1993.
No
judgment was promulgated. He filed another motion for resolution of the
case on October 13, 1994, and still another on March 1, 1995, but up to
the date of his complaint, November 24, 1995, no decision had yet been
rendered.
In the Comment
[2nd Indorsement, January 16, 1996]
submitted by Judge Asaali on requirement of this Court, he adverts to
"certain
intervening events [mainly the assumption of additional assignments and
duties by virtue of administrative orders from this Court] (which) may
help explain the reasons why [he] was not able to attend to the case
immediately
and decide the same within the 90-day reglementary period." According
to
him, in March, 1992, he was designated Acting Judge of RTC Branch 15 in
addition to his regular duties in his court, RTC Branch 17, and he had
to give preferential attention to detention prisoners whose cases were
pending in Branch 15; that on March 1, 1993, while still presiding over
two (2) salas, he was appointed Executive Judge of the Zamboanga City
Regional
Trial Court which post he held until June, 1995; that on September 12,
1994 he was designated presiding Judge of Branch 3, Jolo, Sulu and of
Branch
4, Parang, Sulu, in addition to his regular duties in his Court and as
Executive Judge of the RTC of Zamboanga City, an assignment that
required
him to travel to Jolo, Sulu for at least one (1) week every month and,
in view of the number of detention prisoners involved, hold sessions
there
morning and afternoon; and that unlike a colleague that he names, he
willingly
accepted these assignments. He closes with the plea "that his failure
to
decide. [Civil Case No. 3965] within the reglementary period. be
viewed with compassion," advising that "the decision is now being
finalized."
Copies of the
administrative orders relative to
his additional assignments were later submitted by His Honor as
attachments
to a second letter to the Court dated April 13, 1996. In this letter,
he
declares in closing that the delay in his decision "was not and
certainly
never attended by any ulterior motive or gain, and [that his]
reputation
and integrity as a judge in Zamboanga City is an open book [showing him
to] have always conducted [himself] very properly as a member of the
judiciary
[and] that since [he] joined the judiciary since July 1, 1985,
never
[has his] reputation, character and integrity been assailed or
reproached.cralaw:red
Be all this as it
may, His Honor's prolonged inaction
over a period of three years cannot be ignored or countenanced. The
inaction
is accentuated by the fact that no less than three [3] motions were
filed
by the complainant calling the Judge's attention to his omission. He
also
failed to apply for an extension to decide the case in question. The
omission
defies satisfactory explanation; it obviously caused much distress and
disappointment to the complainant; and it certainly did nothing to
enhance
the image of the courts as agencies of justice where all people may
expect
the fair and prompt disposition of cases.cralaw:red
WHEREFORE, the
Court administers to Judge Tibing
A. Asaali a severe REPRIMAND with the stern warning that the commission
of a like, or of any other, offense in the future will be dealt with
more
severely.cralaw:red
SO ORDERED. Narvasa, C.J.,
Davide, Jr., Melo, Francisco
and Panganiban, JJ., concur.
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