ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, -- The Supreme Court has affirmed its decision to dismiss from service five court sheriffs in this city for illegally confiscating pigs and feasting on one of them in 2007.

In an en banc ruling promulgated on October 13 and released on November 4, the high court dismissed with finality the motions of considerations filed in September by the sheriffs.

"The court resolved to deny with finality the said motions for reconsideration there being no substantial matter raised to warrant the reversal of the questioned decision," the court said.

The latest ruling of the high court upheld its August 13 order, dismissing from the service Rolando Somosa, Edgar Cordero and Rodolfo Haro, sheriffs of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC); and Gani Lacatan and Camilo Divinagracia Jr., sheriffs of the Iloilo Regional Trial Court (RTC).

In its August 13 decision, the court also ordered the forfeiture of all benefits and privileges except accrued leave credits of the sheriffs.

The court found the sheriffs guilty of grave misconduct after they illegally confiscated 675 heads of swine from Nueva Swine Valley Inc. and admitted roasting and eating one of the pigs when they served a writ of execution related to a civil case two years ago.

The executive judge of the Iloilo RTC and the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) had found the sheriffs to have violated procedures under the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure governing the implementation of execution of judgments for money when they levied the property of Nueva Swine Valley Inc., which was not the subject of the writ of execution.

Mary Ann Ng, president and chief executive officer of Nueva Swine Valley Inc., was a respondent to a criminal and civil complaint, over her alleged failure to pay liabilities to complainant Lita Gamboa representing Keylargo Commodities Trading. Gamboa had accused Ng of violating Batas Pambansa Bilang 22 (Bouncing Checks Law).

Investigations showed that on May 31, 2007, the sheriffs served an order of execution issued by the Municipal Trial Circuit Court Branch 2 in Bacolod City requiring Ng to pay her liabilities and for the sheriffs to levy her properties if she failed to do so.

The sheriffs confiscated 675 heads of pigs and delivered them to the Keylargo for safekeeping after the officer-in-charge of the farm failed to pay Ng's liabilities. The pigs were subsequently auctioned.

Nueva Swine Valley's legal counsel Hector Teodosio filed a complaint before the OCA questioning the manner by which the writ of execution was implemented at the hog farm in Barangay (Village) Talokgangan, Banate town in Iloilo, 54 in north of here.

Nueva Swine's production manager and veterinarian, Dr. Matis Donglal, Jr., said in his affidavit that the sheriffs ordered the slaughter of one imported pig, which was then roasted on the farm's premises.

The high court also pointed out that the properties of Nueva Swine were not covered by the levy order because Ng had a separate and distinct personality from that of the corporation even if she was the corporation's president and chief executive officer.