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Administrative Matter OCA I.P.I. No. 04-2121-RTJ. February 6, 2006]

MA. ELENA R. DIVINAGRACIA v. JUDGE JOSEPH CEDRICK O. RUIZ, REGIONAL TRIAL COURT, BRANCH 39, ILOILO CITY

Third Division

Sirs/Mesdames:

Quoted hereunder, for your information is a resolution of the Third Division of this Court dated FEB. 6, 2006

Administrative Matter OCA I.P.I. No. 04-2121-RTJ (Ma. Elena R. Divinagracia v. Judge Joseph Cedrick O. Ruiz, Regional Trial Court, Branch 39, Iloilo City)

Complainant Ma. Elena R. Divinagracia charges Judge J. Cedrick O. Ruiz with Gross Ignorance of the Law, Manifest Bad Faith and Conduct Unbecoming of a Judge in connection with four corporate cases filed before his sala. During his lifetime, complainant's husband, the late Santiago Divinagracia, filed derivative suits against Consolidated Broadcasting Services, Inc. (CBS, Inc.), People's Broadcasting Services, Inc. (PBS, Inc.) and the Newsounds Broadcasting Network, Inc. (NBN, Inc.) and certain individual respondents. The three cases, docketed respectively as SCC Case No. 02-27050, [1] cralaw SCC Case No. 00-26558, [2] cralaw and SCC Case No. 00-26557 [3] cralaw , were all heard before the sala of respondent judge. Complainant and her co-heirs also filed SCC Case No. 04-010 to nullify the joint stockholders' meeting and elections in CBS, Inc., PBS, Inc., and NBN, Inc. due to alleged irregularities in the proceedings.

The complaint alleges that respondent judge dismissed all the three (3) cases filed by the late Divinagracia and ordered the substituted heirs of the late Divinagracia, including herein complainant, to pay respondent corporations specific amounts of damages and attorney's fees. Complainant questions respondent judge's ruling finding complainant and her co-heirs personally liable even though they merely substituted the deceased as plaintiffs and that no evidence was presented to justify the amounts of damages awarded.

Complainant also charges respondent judge of disregarding well-settled pronouncements against awarding corporations moral damages when he directed complainant and co-heirs to pay moral damages to respondent corporations in SCC Case No. 00-26557 and SCC Case 00-26558. Complainant brands respondent judge's act of dispensing with a pre-trial conference in SCC Case No. 04-010 as arbitrary since there is no provision in the Interim Rules of Procedure Governing Intra-Corporate Controversies exempting election contests from the requirements of a pre-trial.

Furthermore, complainant also charges respondent judge with manifest partiality when he (a) refused to inhibit himself from hearing SCC Case No. 04-010 and (b) denied complainant's motion for inhibition.

Finally, complainant alleges that respondent judge's issuance of the Resolution granting the motion for immediate execution of the awards for damages in SCC Case No. 00-26557 and SCC Case No. 00-26558 notwithstanding the pendency of an appeal was intentionally concealed from complainant who came to know of the Resolution only when she was served with the writs of execution. Complainant claims that she was prevented from taking recourse to oppose the execution as respondent judge was away when the writs of execution were served.

Complainant also filed a Supplemental Complaint to protest respondent judge's failure to conduct a hearing before granting the ex-parte motion for the issuance of a supplemental writ of execution in SCC Case No. 00-26557 against complainant's two daughters. Complainant alleges that respondent judge deliberately sat on the motion filed by her daughters to quash the writs of execution to ensure that the writs would be served first and then notices of levy issued before the motion to quash was resolved.

In his Comment, respondent judge argues that the correctness of the decisions in SCC Case Nos. 02-27050, 00-26557 and 00-26558 should be left to the Court of Appeals where the cases had been elevated on appeal. Respondent judge also defends the award of moral damages in favor of the corporations arguing that there is no settled rule on the issue contrary to the claim of complainant. Respondent judge stands firm on his ruling that no pre-trial conference is necessary in SCC Case No. 04-010.

Respondent judge attributes the delay in the service of the resolution granting the issuance of the writs of execution to the hectic work schedule of the process server. He claims that he was away on official business during the service of the writs of execution, thus, it is unfair to impute ill-motive on his absence considering that a pairing judge was present on that day.

Considering the submissions of the parties, we find that the herein complaint must be dismissed. Complainant's remedy from the adverse decisions in SCC Case Nos. 02-27050, 00-26557 and 00-26558 is obviously judicial since the complainant is questioning the propriety of the award of damages. It now appears that the aforementioned cases had been elevated to the Court of Appeals; thus, complainant cannot assail in an administrative matter the adverse decisions still pending resolution by the appellate court. Disciplinary proceedings and criminal actions against judges arc not complementary or suppletory to, or a substitute for, the judicial remedies which are available. Resort to judicial remedies, as well as the entry of judgment in the corresponding action or proceeding, is a pre-requisite for the taking of the appropriate administrative, civil, or criminal actions against the judges concerned. [4] cralaw

The same rule is applicable to respondent judge's net of dispensing with a pre-trial conference in SCC Case No. 04-010. Complainant should have seasonably availed of judicial remedies to question any perceived error committed by respondent judge. In any case, it appears that complainant did not appeal the decision in SCC Case No. 04-010, thus, she is deemed to have abandoned her right to question any perceived error in the decision. It is only after the available judicial remedies have been exhausted and the appellate tribunals have spoken with finality, that the door to an inquiry into a judge's criminal, civil or administrative liability may be said to have opened, or closed. [5] cralaw

Furthermore, the Court finds no substantial evidence to impute bad faith or malice in the failure or delay in the service of the resolution granting the issuance of writs of execution. The affidavits of the Branch Clerk of Court and the process server satisfactorily explain that the delay in the service was due to inadvertence attributable to the heavy workload in the court.

Lastly, the Court is also not convinced that respondent judge deliberately sat on the motion to quash the writs of execution to ensure that the writs would be served first. Records show that the trial court received the motion to quash the order of respondent judge granting the ex-parte motion for the issuance of a supplemental writ of execution on the same day the sheriff issued the notice of levy pursuant to the writ of execution.

WHEREFORE, the administrative complaint against Judge Joseph Cedrick O. Ruiz is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) LUCITA ABJELINA-SORIANO
Clerk of Court


Endnotes:

[1] cralaw Petition for Mandamus and Nullification of Delinquency Call and Issuance of Unsubscribed Shares.

[2] cralaw Declaration of Nullity of Management Contract and Accounting.

[3] cralaw Ibid.

[4] cralaw Maximino Balayo v. Mamerto Buban, 372 Phil. 688 (1999).

[5] cralaw Barbers v. Laguio, A.M. No. RTJ-00-1568, February 15, 2001 , 351 SCRA 606.


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