October 2009 - Philippine Supreme Court Decisions/Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence
A.M. No. P-09-2625 - Elisa C. Ruste v. Cristina Q. Selma
SECOND DIVISION
[A.M. NO. P-09-2625 : October 9, 2009]
ELISA C. RUSTE, Complainant, v. CRISTINA Q. SELMA, Respondent.
D E C I S I O N
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
The trial of Criminal Case No. 19388, "People of the Philippines v. Beethoven Rodriguez," for forcible abduction filed on complaint of Elisa C. Ruste, herein complainant, having been terminated on March 16, 2007, and the trial court, Branch 14 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Zamboanga
City, having directed the parties to submit their respective memoranda, complainant's lawyer paid on September 5, 2007 herein respondent Cristina Q. Selma, Stenographer III at the trial court, P2,000 representing payment of her services in transcribing her stenographic notes taken during the hearings of the case on September 6, 11 and December 5, 2006.
Respondent failed to transcribe those stenographic notes, however, despite several "follow ups," hence, complainant filed a sworn complaint dated January 28, 2008 charging respondent with dereliction of duty.
Admitting having failed to transcribe the stenographic notes, respondent claimed that she had to prioritize the transcription of stenographic notes taken in other cases as required in open court, the same being needed in the next scheduled hearings thereof; and having become aware that complainant filed the present complaint against her, she returned the P2,000 to complainant's secretary who acknowledged receipt thereof.???�r?bl?�