SC fines retired Iloilo judge for failure to resolve cases

ILOILO CITY –– The Supreme Court has fined a retired Iloilo judge for failing to resolve a backlog of cases as directed by the high court.

In a nine-page decision released on October 9, the Supreme Court Third Division found retired judge Danilo Galvez guilty of gross misconduct and meted a fine equivalent to his salary for six months.

The fine would be deducted from his retirement benefits, according to the court decision penned by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul Inting and concurred with by Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Marvic Leonen, Andres Reyes Jr., and Ramon Paul Hernando.

Galvez, who presided over the Iloilo Regional Trial Court Branch 24, retired on April 27, 2018.

In its decision, the high court meted a six-month suspension without pay against Galvez but was instead made to pay a fine due to his retirement.

Fine

In finding Galvez guilty of gross misconduct, the high court said in its decision that the retired judge’s “transgression … touched on the parties’ right to the speedy disposition of cases which resulted in the delay in the resolution thereof for at least 17 years …”

It also cited Galvez’s “indifference and recalcitrant behavior towards judicial processes.”

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by the Office of the Court Administrator against Galvez due to his non-compliance with the directives of the high court to resolve a backlog of cases.

The high court had issued a resolution on January 28, 2002, to Galvez to resolve eight criminal and 36 civil cases submitted for decision but left unresolved by former presiding judge Bartolome Fanufial who retired on April 21, 2001.

It also designated two other RTC judges Lolita Besana and Roger Patricio to assist Galvez.

Three judges

The high court issued a show-cause order on the three judges on August 19, 2002, for failing to comply with its earlier order.

Patricio in a letter dated September 13, 2002, reported to the court that he had rendered decisions on nine of the 19 cases. Besana in a letter dated January 7, 2003, told the court that she had resolved 12 of the cases.

Galvez in a motion received by the high court on June 13, 2018, said he was unaware of the two resolutions issued by the court against him.

He said that he had no intention to defy or disregard the orders of the court as he only came to know about them when he was processing his clearance for his retirement.

Galvez also told the court in his motion that he misunderstood the directive when the unresolved cases were passed on to the three judges and had separated the inherited cases from the regular docket of cases of his court.

Abandoned cases

He said the cases had already been abandoned as none of the parties or their counsel called his attention or filed a motion.

But the high court said Galvez was guilty of “his deliberate and repeated failure to comply with the Court’s lawful orders and directives.”

“He owes candor to the Court when rendering an explanation, in the same way that he expected it from lawyers who appeared before his court. It is even hardly necessary to remind Judge Galvez that judges should respect the orders and decisions of higher tribunals, much more the Highest Tribunal of the land from which all other courts should take their bearings,” according to its decision.

Defiance

It also raised doubts about Galvez’s explanation that he was unaware of the directives of the court related to the resolution of the cases assigned to the three judges.

“To reiterate, the Court cannot tolerate the conduct exhibited by Judge Galvez which constitutes no less than clear acts of defiance against the Court’s authority. It is not enough that no parties were prejudiced or that the cases were deemed abandoned because of their inaction. What is more important is whether, in the course of the judicial process, judicial norms have been maintained with the end in view that a judge must discharge his functions with diligence and efficiency …,” the high court said in its decision.