SC fines retired judge over delayed decisions

A retired Regional Trial Court judge in Cebu City was fined P20,000 by the Supreme Court after he was found guilty of undue delay in rendering decisions of cases pending before his sala.

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo held retired RTC Branch 24 Judge Olegario Sarmiento Jr. administratively liable for the delays of the cases in his court. The Supreme Court order states that the penalty will be deducted from his retirement benefits.

“It has been consistently held that failure to decide cases and other matters within the reglementary period constitutes gross inefficiency which warrants the imposition of administrative sanction against the erring magistrate,” read the resolution.

Sarmiento applied for optional retirement effective September 14, 2012. As a matter of procedure, the Office of the Court Administrator conducted a judicial audit on September 24 to 28, 2012. The audit team found out that Sarmiento had a total pending caseload of 519. Out of the total cases, 308 are criminal and 211 are civil.

According to the audit team, there were 42 cases that are deemed submitted for decision, 21 of which were already beyond the 90-day reglementary period to decide. There were also 46 cases with pending motions, six of which were also beyond the reglementary period.

There were 10 cases which have no further action and/or cases with orders that have not been complied with despite the lapse of a considerable length of time. There were five criminal cases with no initial action taken from the time they were raffled to the branch; and 18 cases have no further settings.

Sarmiento, who served the judiciary for almost 20 years, said he was aware of the administrative case against him because of his undecided cases. He said he continued to report even after retirement until December 2012 to finish writing his draft decisions which may be adapted by his successor.

Despite his effort, the SC still found him liable, citing the rules prescribing the time within which the judicial duty to decide and resolve cases are mandatory in nature.

“Section 15(1) of the 1987 Constitution states that cases or matters must be decided or resolved within three months for the lower courts,” read the decision.

It added that under Canon 3, Rule 3.05 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, judges shall dispose of the court's business promptly and decide cases within the required periods.

Sarmiento’s effort to help his successor, however, somehow mitigated the amount imposed to him as penalty.

“However, considering Judge Sarmiento’s two decades of service in the Judiciary, and his uncontroverted manifestation that he helped Judge (Stewart) Himalaloan in the preparation of the draft decisions for the undecided cases, we deem the penalty of fine in the amount of P20,000 appropriate,” read the decision.

The high tribunal directed the Financial Management Office to immediately release the balance of Sarmiento’s retirement benefits after the fine has been deducted.