Ombudsman orders suspension of Ormoc’s registrar of deeds
ORMOC CITY — The Ombudsman had ordered a 3-month suspension without pay against Ormoc City’s registrar of deeds who it found guilty of “misconduct” for misrepresenting himself in his personal data sheet (PDS) when he applied for the post.
The complaint against lawyer Cleto L. Evangelista, chief of the Register of Deeds (ROD)-Ormoc, was filed against him by the Occidental Leyte Bar Association (OLBA), represented by its president Joy Mejia-Romero, a group of practicing lawyers in the western part of Leyte.
Evangelista is a former legal counsel of Ormoc City, a UP Law graduate, and reportedly a classmate of now Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.
The OLBA complained that Evangelista misrepresented himself in the PDS that he filed when he applied as ROD in Ormoc, by claiming he had no previous administrative conviction, that he was a member of the Rotary Club of Ormoc (RCO), and using his wife’s community tax certificate (cedula) as his own.
OLBA also complained that, even if he had no notarial commission, Evangelista continued to notarize documents, including deeds of sale.
Contrary to his PDS entries, Evangelista already has a previous administrative conviction for grave misconduct when the SC ordered him suspended for six months in the case Winnie C. Lucente, et al, vs. Cleto L. Evangelista.
He also has never been a member of the RCO, as evidenced by a certification of Rotary District 3860. The OLBA also obtained a certification from the City Treasurer’s Office that the CTC number on his PDS was that of his wife’s.
On notarizing documents in Ormoc City, posing unfair competition to lawyers here, the Clerk of Court issued a certificate that Evangelista’s name is not among those duly commissioned by the executive judge here.
In his answers to the allegations, Evangelista said he answered “no” to the question about ever being administratively convicted because “he thought that the same could not be classified as the administrative offense contemplated in the PDS.”
On being a member of the RCO, he said he got it confused with the Rotary Club of Ormoc Bay (RCOB) since it was a long time that he was a member of the organization. On using his CTC, his wife must have mixed it up with his because he just called her over the phone for the number at the time.
Evangelista also submitted the result of a forensic document examiner noting his signature was different in formation, construction and “other individual handwriting characteristics” from those found in the deeds of sale he allegedly notarized.
The Ombudsman, in its decision, found Evangelista guilty of misconduct for making the misrepresentations. However it absolved him from the violation of notarizing documents and deeds of sale without a notarial commission, because OLBA failed to prove that it was indeed he who signed those documents.
Evangelista, when reached for his comment on the matter, said he is aware of the decision but has not received it yet, and that it would be the Land Registration Authority (LRA) that would serve it on him.
He added that he would contest the decision and file a motion for reconsideration. “I will exhaust all available remedies,” he said because it would be a stain on his public service record.
On the other hand, the OLBA has already received the decision. Atty. MejiaRomero said they also have scheduled a meeting about it to discuss and decide what appropriate measures to take.