October 2011 - Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions
[A.M. No. RTJ-11-2284 : October 05, 2011]
SPOUSES SUR AND RITA VILLA AND LETICIA GOREMBALEM VALENZUELA VS. PRESIDING JUDGE ROBERTO L. AYCO, ET AL.
A.M. No. RTJ-11-2284 (Spouses Sur and Rita Villa and Leticia Gorembalem Valenzuela vs. Presiding Judge Roberto L. Ayco, et al.). � Before the Court is an administrative matter against Presiding Judge Roberto L. Ayco, OIC Clerk of Court Virginia Bartolome and Sheriff IV Crispin S. Calsenia, Jr., of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 26, Surallah, South Cotabato. In the Decision dated July 13, 2011, the Court found, among others, Sheriff Calsenia Jr. guilty of simple misconduct and suspended him from service for three months without pay and other fringe benefits.
Thereafter, Sheriff Calsenia, Jr. filed the subject "Motion for Reduction of 3-Month Period of Suspension" dated August 24, 2011. In said motion, respondent recited the following grounds:
(a) That the offense charged upon him is the very first offense that he has ever committed due to honest unintentional inadvertence;
(b) That his job as a court employee is the sole source of income of his family;
(c) That the long period of three (3) months of receiving no salaries and other fringe benefits will certainly mean starvation and penury on his family that completely depends on his compensation as a court employee with nothing to augment the same as his wife, who is jobless, has been suffering from the chronic ailment of Diabetes and Kidney Disorder and every so often confined in the hospital, exacerbated by the fact that his three (3) grandchildren, one of whom is now in the elementary school and whose parents are also unemployed, are under his care and custody, and all of their basic daily necessities in life totally rely on his meager income;
(d) That the undersigned hereby earnestly states that the offense complained of will never be repeated as he hereby promises to be circumspect at all times in the performance of his duties as Deputy Sheriff IV.
The above grounds are well-taken. The Court RESOLVES to GRANT the motion on humanitarian grounds, considering that respondent was charged with the offense for the first time and that his employment as an officer of the court is the sole source of income for his family. The penalty against Sheriff IV Crispin S. Calsenia, Jr., is hereby MODIFIED from suspension of three (3) months to one (1) month from the service without pay, with a STERN WARNING that a repetition of the same or similar offense will be dealt with more severely.
SO ORDERED.
Very truly yours,
(Sgd.) LUCITA ABJELINA-SORIANO
Division Clerk of Court