Gov. Umali accuses Sandigan Justice of grave misconduct

A CASE for grave misconduct has been filed before the Supreme Court against Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Jose R. Hernandez by a provincial governor whom he has convicted of graft.

In a 19-page complaint received by the Supreme Court’s Office of the Court Administrator on July 13, Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali Jr. accused the associate justice of trying to extort P15-million in exchange for clearing him of the graft case.

Umali was convicted for approving a P2.5-million loan to a certain engineer Alfredo Atienza in 1994, which was supposed to finance the cost of repair, operation and maintenance of Atienza’s vessel MV Ace intended to ply the Calapan-Batangas-Calapan sea route.

Justice Hernandez is the chairman of the anti-graft court’s 4th division who tried and convicted Umali along with former Gov. Rodolfo Valencia and Romualdo Bawasanta, a member then of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

“Before the decision dated 20 April 2015 came out convicting respondents in Criminal Case 23624, my camp was approached by a certain Mr. Ruel Ricafort, a person who was very close to Justice Hernandez and his wife. Indeed it was clearly emphasized to me that Mr. Ricafort is a cousin of the wife of Justice Hernandez. It was further relayed that if I wanted to be acquitted, all I needed to do was pay Php 15,000,000.00 to Justice Hernandez,” Umali said adding that he was given the impression that it was a “one time offer” and that he should “take it or leave it.”

“lncensed, I refused to accede to such a venal and illegal request. Shortly, thereafter I was convicted. All the respondents in the case filed their respective Motions for Reconsideration but any hope of ever getting a just ruling was dashed when recently, respondent Justice declared, you can always go to the Supreme Court,” he added.

“lt was a brazen declaration that the accused could no longer expect anything from him because they would certainly be convicted. Needless to state, this highly improper statement sent chills down our spines,” Umali said in his complaint.

Umali believed that he drew the ire of Justice Hernandez being the brother of Representative Reynaldo Umali, a long-time crusader against judicial corruption and partly responsible for Justice Gregorio Ong’s dismissal. He said Ong is a good friend of Hernandez.

As a magistrate of the court that tries criminal cases against government officials, Hernandez wields power over the life, liberty, and property of the accused, as well as their careers in public service, Umali said.

“For many such public officials, serving the public is all they know—the very foundation on which they have built their entire lives. All these, in one fell swoop can be unjustly taken away by a corrupt and biased magistrate like the respondent,” Umali said.