Judge to file recon, says SC ruling unjust

THE municipal trial court judge dismissed by the Supreme Court for her large backlog of unresolved cases will file a motion for reconsideration on the decision against her.

“Its not true (that I’m sleeping on the job). You can verify with the records in my office. I have not done anything wrong,” said Judge Rosabella Tormis of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 4.

She referred to an audit done by the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) last year.

”I was even told by the (OCA) audit team that you’re the only judge in the Palace of Justice who has no pending case for decision,” Tormis said.

“Where is justice there? I’m sitting on my job. The decision against me is so unfair,” she added.

The High Court ruled that Tormis was found guilty of “gross inefficiency, violation of SC rules, directives, and circulars, as well as gross ignorance of the law.”

Lawyer Reynaldo Teves, clerk of court of MTCC Branch 4, was also dismissed from service for two counts of simple neglect of duty.

Suspensions

The High Court also ordered the “forfeiture of all benefits and privileges, except for the accrued leave credits” of both Tormis and Teves. They were also barred from reemployment in any government office.

Tormis said she will ask the SC to conduct an investigation to find out that she hasn’t committed any lapses or irregularities in her court.

“All accusations are unjust and unfair. They should have taken into consideration the person whom they sanctioned and what will happen to me,” she said.

When an audit was made in her court in 2008, Tormis said she was just reinstated after serving a suspension in another case.

She said the three separate suspensions issued against her caused the delay in the disposition of cases pending in her court.

Amid all challenges she is facing, Tormis remains hopeful that everything will fall into place. “I believe the truth will prevail. I have full trust and confidence in God.

Ailing

The 63-year-old judge has been attending to her ailing husband in Cebu Doctors’ Hospital.

Her husband Guillermo suffered a massive heart attack last Feb. 18, 2013, prompting doctors to conduct a brain surgery to save the life of the latter. Guillermo has been transferred to a private room.

“It seems that the Lord is telling me, ‘I’m saving the life of your husband in exchange of your job,’” Tormis said.

Her son Francis, who works as a staff member of the Office of the Clerk of Court of the MTCC Cebu City, said he would prefer not to contest the ruling of the SC.

“If I were to decide, I will no longer contest the ruling. We’re going against the High Court and I don’t think they will easily reverse their decision,” he said.

Tormis, who has four children, served as a prosecutor in Tacloban City before she was named MTCC judge in Cebu City in 1999.

MTCC Executive Judge Fransico Seville has seen nothing wrong regarding Tormis’ work habit.

“Since I became executive judge in 2011, she (Tormis) has been performing her duties well,” he told reporters.

Humanitarian reason

Seville was surprised upon learning about the decision of the High Court against Tormis.

“It’s really a feeling of sadness considering what she has been experiencing today. It’s rather unfortunate,” he said.

While nothing is impossible, Seville said the SC en banc would “seldom” reverse its decision.

“Maybe for humanitarian reasons or because of good grounds, (they can reverse the decision). It’s the SC who will decide. Only them can they reverse the decision against Judge Tormis,” he said.

In case MTCC Branch 4 will be declared vacant, Seville said the pairing judges assigned in MTCC 3 will take over.

The SC, in its decision, found Tormis to be remiss in her duty after she failed to resolve 195 cases despite having been submitted for decision for more than 90 days.

About 90 cases had also been submitted for resolution beyond the mandatory period but were yet to be resolved by the judge.

The SC also found out that 223 cases had been filed in court but Tormis failed to make even just the initial action for a considerable period while 3,491 cases had no further action for a considerable length of time.

The OCA earlier recommended that Tormis be fined P80,000 for undue delay in rendering a decision and P20,000 for failure to provide a efficient court management system and another P20,000 for ordering the arrest of the accused even before the latter was appraised of the charges against her.

OCA’s recommendations were not adopted and the High Court raised the penalty Tormis to dismissal from the service. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol