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[A.M. No. 98-7-86-MTC.August 17, 1999]

RE: REPORT ON THE JUDICIAL AUDIT CONDUCTED IN MTC BALANGA, BATAAN

EN BANC

Gentlemen :

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated AUG 17, 1999.

A.M. No. 98-7-86-MTC(Re:Report on the judicial audit conducted in Municipal Trial Court, Balanga, Bataan and transfer of venue of Criminal Case No. 5917 from Municipal Trial Court, Abucay to Municipal Circuit Trial Court, Orion, same province, for consolidation with Criminal Case No. 5988.)

This concerns the letter, dated June 28, 1999, of Dolores J. Gomez complaining that she has not been furnished a copy of the memorandum of the Office of the Court Administrator, dated February 8, 1999, concerning A.M. No. 98-7-86-MTC and requesting that her request for transfer of venue of Criminal Case No. 5917 from Balanga, Bataan to any place outside the province of Bataan be soon resolved.

Dolores J. Gomez previously filed two complaints, dated October 11, 1995 and October 24, 1995, respectively, against Judge Rodolfo Gatdula of the Municipal Trial Court of Balanga, Bataan.The Second Division of this Court decided these complaints on July 31, 1998.(See A.M. No. MTJ-98-1155 [formerly A.M. No. OCA-IPI 96-85-MTJ], entitled Gomez v. Gatdula) In addition, in its resolution, dated March 13, 1996, the Second Division denied complainant's request for transfer of venue of Criminal Case No. 5917 originally assigned to Judge Gatdula for preliminary investigation.Instead, it designated Judge Eliseo A. Pe�aflor of the MTC of Abucay, Bataan to hear and decide the case utilizing for this purpose the personnel of the MTC of Balanga, Bataan.

As an offshoot of A.M. No. MTJ-98-1155, a judicial audit was conducted of Judge Gatdula's cases. The Office of the Court Administrator, which conducted the audit, submitted a memorandum, dated February 8, 1999, to the Chief Justice.This is the memorandum referred to in the aforesaid letter of Dolores J. Gomez.This matter, as well as Judge Pe�aflor's letter, dated January 8, 1997, requesting to be relieved from hearing Criminal Case No. 5917 on the ground of ill health had been previously referred by the Second Division to the Court en banc for appropriate action and thereafter docketed as A.M. No. 98-7-86-MTC.

The request to be furnished a copy of the memorandum of the OCA to the Chief Justice cannot be granted for the reason that, as explained in Yuseco v. Bernad, 243 SCRA 19 (1995), reports or memoranda of the OCA in cases of this nature are Solely for the Court's internal use.

With respect to Dolores J. Gomez's request for transfer of venue of Criminal Case No. 5917, the records show that, in its resolution of March 13, 1996 in A.M. No. MTJ-98-1155, the Second Division already denied her request. Instead, Judge Eliseo A. Pe�aflor of the MTC of Abucay, Bataan was designated to hear and decide Criminal Case No. 5917 in place of Judge Rodolfo Gatdula.Judge Pe�aflor was subsequently replaced by Judge Antonio Quintos of the MCTC of Orion-Pilar, Bataan, to hear and decide the aforementioned case with Criminal Case No. 5988 in Balanga, Bataan.

WHEREFORE, the requests contained in the letter, dated June 28, 1999, of Dolores J. Gomez (1) for a copy of the memorandum submitted by the Office of the Court Administrator to the Chief Justice and (2) for the transfer of venue of Criminal Case No. 5917 from Balanga, Bataan to any place outside the province of Bataan are DENIED.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) LUZVIMINDA D. PUNO

Clerk of Court

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