PJA head: No case fixing involving ‘Ma’am Arlene’

MANILA, Philippines - The president of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) has denied charges of rampant “case fixing” in courts involving a “Ma’am Arlene.”

In a phone interview with The STAR, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ralph Lee, PJA president, said Arlene, the subject of an investigation of the Supreme Court (SC), is not known to judges.

“Arlene or by whatever name, we don’t know of any fixer who goes around courts and peddles influence among our members,” he said. “Judges also aren’t like that. That doesn’t happen in our courts.”

He doesn’t know any Arlene, he added.

Lee also denied allegations that Arlene had sponsored expenses of judges in their conventions.

“In every convention or election we have, we collect P5,000 in registration fee from each of our 667 members and that’s over P3 million,” he said.

“Our expenses in the last election were over P2 million and we have a savings of around P700,000. So we don’t really need sponsors because our association has surplus in budget.” 

 Lee denied reports that Arlene paid for the accommodations of PJA members in their recent convention, and that this information could be easily verified through records of hotels.

 â€œOur conventions are supported by LGUs (local government units) and that is allowed by the Supreme Court. It’s always been our practice to seek financial assistance from LGUs for our conventions,” he said.

Lee said the PJA will submit to the investigation of the SC committee chaired by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

“We’re open to that investigation so we can say for sure if that Arlene really exists,” he said.

“They can summon the judges who allegedly received any amount from her or anyone. But what I can assure you is that there is no one who paid for our expenses because we have funds.” 

Lee and his two rivals in the PJA polls, Makati RTC Judge Rommel Baybay and Marikina RTC Judge Felix Reyes, have already submitted comments to the SC on the controversy.

All three denied knowing Arlene or even perpetrating “smear campaign” against each other.

An initial probe by the Office of Court Administrator  had shown that the charges involving Arlene had something to do with the PJA election.

 It was also alleged that three “Arlenes” in the judiciary are known for supposedly “fixing cases” in the Court of Appeals and regional trial courts — a clerk in the Court of Appeals, a former employee in Manila RTC and a prominent staff at Manila City Hall.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno has tapped the National Bureau of Investigation to aid in the criminal aspects of the investigation.

She wants the NBI to determine facts on two matters: possible violation of applicable criminal laws in the recently concluded PJA election, and the identity of private persons who appear to have unlawfully influenced specific members of the judiciary in the outcome of specific cases.