Not by bread alone

When she was a newly appointed judge of the Metropolitan Trial Court in Quezon City in the 1980s, Delilah Vidallon Magtolis dismissed reports of friends about some of her fellow judges’ misdeeds as pure character assassination.

Sometime later, when she came face to face with real hard facts, she had to eat her words. “Indeed there are colleagues who should rightfully be called ‘Hoodlums in Robes,’ as a former President described judges. “The nature of the duties and responsibilities of judges make them susceptible to temptations which are often so strong.”

From the MTC then the Regional Trial Court of the same city, up to the Court of Appeals, her judicial career was marked by a strong commitment to truth and justice.

Now retired, Justice Magtolis writes about her experiences in a small volume titled, Not By Bread Alone. The book, which Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno recommends as a “must-read” for newly appointed judges, is meant “to tell all and sundry how to uphold the majesty of the law despite the lure of easy money or get-rich-quick syndrome… Above all, the book is a testimony to how God’s grace has sustained me in the endless contest of right against wrong and to live by faith in His provision and perfect plan.”

Men, says Justice Magtolis, “should not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God (Matthew 4:4), as admonished by Jesus Christ when he was tempted by the devil.”

Her commitment to keep an unblemished record as a judge has been consistent. For her, friendships were secondary; the lure of money never glittered. She was firm against her staff receiving any gifts. She preferred to live in a simple single-story house rather than buy a mansion with hefty sums offered by people who wanted her to rule favorably on their cases.

One of her biggest challenges was how to maintain independence even when high-ranking officials or even fellow judges called on her to intercede for a party on a case.

Among those who called on her to ask for favorable resolutions on certain cases were a Secretary of Justice, a congressman, and higher judicial officials. Her standard answer was that she will study the case mentioned carefully, but did not promise its resolution. Former colleagues who were promoted to higher courts never talked to her afterwards when she did not decide the case for which they interceded according to their wishes.

There were cases in which she decided against requests made through notes, that turned out had not come from the Quezon City mayor’s and vice-mayor’s offices, but were brought to her by intercessors.

“These instances made me steadfast in my desire to continue deciding cases according to the evidence presented before me, and not due to any pressure or “pakiusap.” It was a tougher path to follow, but thankfully, God has always delivered me through,” writes Magtolis.

In her time as a trial judge, the sheriffs in most courts, she said, were considered the most corrupt. This is because they are the ones who execute or implement the judgments in the courts, and in so doing, they demand a fee before actually doing their work.

But not so her court sheriff, whom she selected from members of her own church. One time she learned her sheriff had received P3,000 from a client, which he spent to pay for truck rental, three laborers and two policemen who accompanied them to keep order during the execution. There was a leftover of P100, which Judge Magtolis ordered the sheriff to return to the lawyer. “In a short while, the news spread out that I was the only judge who was asking his/her sheriff to account in open court for his expenses in executing judgments.”

Some offers would be too delicious to be turned down by people of lesser quality. One pertained to two lots being given her for ruling in favor of a petitioner who claimed that he had acquired a huge tract of land. The judge found out, upon examining documents, that the petitioner was only six years old when he purchased the property. The judge denied the petition.

Then there was the case of Judge E from the QC RTC offering her P3 million to dismiss cases involving bouncing checks. Judge Magtolis felt insulted and angry and berated her fellow judge. She told him to leave her alone. The judge said, “Baka lang sakali,” and left. Judge Magtolis could have bought a house or travelled and live a leisurely life with the P3-million offer. At the time, judges’ salary was P13,000 per month and if she retired, her retirement gratuity would not even be half of the P3-milion offered.

When she was already in the Court of Appeals, things were no different. The

“offers” were bigger, as the justices decided mostly on cases elevated to them from the lower trial court.

A pain in the neck was a CA colleague who came home from a trip abroad and gifted her with an unusually glittering “pasalubong” of a set of diamond earrings, ring and necklace. This Justice F had been asking Justice Magtolis to rule favorably on some cases she was interceding for. Among her tactics was to say, “Ibigay mo to pa-birthday sa akin,” or “Pagbigyan mo naman ako, Darling.” When a fuming Justice Magtolis rushed to Justice F’s chambers to return the jewelry, the latter tried to embrace and hug her, saying, “No more na, Darling.”

In civil cases, only two of Magtolis’ judgments in the entire 23 years that she served in the judiciary were reversed by the Supreme Court. Her decisions rendered as a first-level court judge were all affirmed when appealed all the way up to the Court of Appeals. On the other hand, she says that of those she rendered as a Regional Trial Court judge, two were not totally affirmed on appeal, one was modified while the other was dismissed due to a procedural technicality and was not resolved on the merits of her judgment.

Magtolis rose from the ranks without the backup of influential people, but due to her hard work and high moral standards. Owing to her fine performance as an RTC judge, she received many awards, notably the Most Outstanding Award given in 1989 by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and the Cayetano Arellano Award for Judicial Excellence given in 1992 by the Foundation for Judicial Excellence.

In 2005, Magtolis compulsorily retired as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals and received an Achievement Award for having disposed of all her assigned cases submitted for decision. Shortly after retirement, she was appointed by the Supreme Court as executive secretary of the Philippine Judicial Academy, the Court’s education arm. Later, she took over as chief of the PHILJA Academic Affairs Office.

Lily, as her friends fondly call her, is the daughter of Leon Añonuevo Vidallon, a Protestant pastor, and Dionisia Nambayan Cajapin, a school teacher, both from Cavite. She worked herself through college, earning her BS from Far Eastern University and law degrees from the then Francisco College.

She is happily married to a nice, kind-hearted engineer, Isagani Mirasol Magtolis with whom she has three daughters, Leilani Gail, a physician; Anidelle Joy, an IT expert, and Delilah Grace, a lawyer.