Marawi judge, Samar clerk of court sacked for gross negligence

The Supreme Court has ordered the dismissal from service of a Marawi City judge and a Samar court clerk who were found guilty of gross negligence.

Ordered dismissed from government service are Judge Santos Adiong, of the Marawi Regional Trial Court Branch 8; and Efren Varela, interpreter and acting clerk of court of Catbalogan municipal trial court in Samar.

In a 16-page curiam decision, the high tribunal said it has found Adiong guilty of gross misconduct for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct when he issued a temporary restraining order in connection with a civil case without proper service of summons or notice to the parties and without conducting a hearing.

The SC even described the decision of the lower court judge as “gross ignorance of the law.”

In the same case, the High Court has also found violation of its circular regarding the raffling of cases when Adiong allowed a member of his staff to exchange the records of the civil case in another branch of the RTC.

“This is a reflection of the moral obtuseness which renders respondent judge unfit to continue in the judicial office,” the SC stressed in its ruling.

As for Varela, the tribunal said he incurred shortages in the MTC funds amounting to P1,032,826.59, which represents the lower court’s judiciary development fund, general fund, special allowance for the judiciary fund and the fiduciary fund.

The SC, in an en banc decision, has found the court interpreter guilty of gross neglect of duty, dishonesty, grave misconduct and malversation of public funds for his failure to account for the shortages and for his non-compliance with the SC’s circulars and rules on the proper administration of court funds, which were designed to promote accountability for public funds.

“The expectation for him to perform all the duties and responsibilities of a Clerk of Court is not diminished” even if he was performing clerk of court duties in an acting capacity, the ruling said.