Judge inhibits self from PUP case

MANILA, Philippines - A Manila regional trial court judge handling the leadership dispute at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines inhibited himself yesterday from trying the case after the PUP Board of Regents accused him of partiality.

In a two-page order, Branch 26 Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. said he opted to remove himself from the case “to erase any doubts on (his) capacity... janitors and utility workersto rule with impartiality.”

Pampilo stopped former rebel priest Edicio de la Torre from replacing Dante Gueverra as PUP president and declared that Guevarra, whose four-year term ended July 5, will continue to act as PUP president in a holdover capacity.

Guevarra’s appointment was not renewed by the board after he failed to get a perfect score in his performance assessment by the school’s evaluation committee.

The PUP-BOR, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), said Pampilo has been a professor at the PUP College of Law since 2009, allegedly after being endorsed by Guevarra. Pampilo denied getting teaching units through Guevarra’s endorsement.

Pampilo is a candidate for a Sandiganbayan post left vacant by the retirement of presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval last June 20.