The travails of Cebu Judge Ferdinand Marcos

CEBU CITY – Misfortunes are raining on Regional Trial Court Judge Ferdinand Marcos who, after being dismissed by the Supreme Court from the service for immorality, was also reportedly abandoned by his alleged paramour.

The Supreme Court, in a 25-page decision last July 6, said Marcos is unfit to remain in office to discharge the functions and duties of a judge.

"Having tarnished the image of the judiciary, (the) respondent must be meted out the severest form of disciplinary sanction – dismissal from the service," the decision stated.

The High Court’s ruling was based on the immorality charges filed by Marcos’ wife, Rotilla, who claimed that her husband was having an affair with a law student named Maydelane Tacaldo, and had abandoned his family.

Appeal

As if adding insult to injury, Tacaldo, according to a close friend of Marcos, has broken up with the judge. The source, who requested anonymity, said it was expected that Tacaldo would desert the judge, especially after the reported affair had rocked the judiciary.

However, Marcos is still putting up a fight, saying he will file a motion for reconsideration of the High Court’s decision because the evidence against him, he said, was not that strong to warrant his dismissal from the service.

He said the decision was merely based on a vehicle certificate of registration wherein his name appeared as a co-owner of Tacaldo.

"The certificate of vehicle registration does not prove that I am cohabitating with Tacaldo," Marcos said.

Marcos added that he did not expect Chief Justice Hilario Davide to use their intimate conversation during a judiciary fun jog at the Cebu City Sports Center as one of the bases of the decision. He said Tacaldo’s presence during the fun run was not proof that they were having an affair.

"I am frustrated but I am not completely down," Marcos said, adding that although the High Court’s unanimous en banc decision was painful, he is still optimistic that he will be cleared later on.

But despite the judge’s optimism, his license to practice law is also in great danger because of the pending petition for disbarment his wife has also filed.

A lesson

Meanwhile, Marcos’ colleagues at the RTC were saddened by the Supreme Court’s decision, but said there is nothing they can do about it because the chances for the tribunal to reconsider its decision are slim.

RTC Executive Judge Galicano Arriesgado said Marcos’ case should serve as a lesson to all government employees to follow the standard norms of morality.

Judge Pompio Abarientos, one of Marcos’ close friends, for his part, said "This is not the end of his life, even in the darkest night there is always a brighter day that will come."

Another close friend, Judge Meinrado Paredes, said the decision only proves that the standards of morality for members of the judiciary are much higher than that of a president of the Republic.

Paredes, however, said the media should stop discussing the decision and that it is enough that Marcos is already out of the judiciary.

Public trust

Paredes said the decision would bolster the public’s trust in the judicial process, especially because the judiciary has proven that it is serious in imposing sanctions on any of its members.

Rotilla’s counsel, Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu, meanwhile, said Marcos’ chances of getting a reversal of the High Court’s ruling are slim.

Dalawampu said the Marcos-Tacaldo affair was such an open relationship that it has become public knowledge at the Palace of Justice.

Dalawampu, in an interview over radio station dyLA, said the decision has maintained the highest moral standard of the judiciary system and serves as a warning to other judges involved in immorality and corruption.

Marcos is the first Cebu judge who was dismissed for immorality. — Freeman News Service