MALACAÑAN PALACE
MANILA
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
[ Administrative Order No. 291, February 11, 1959 ]
CONSIDERING MESSRS. VICENTE B. CUSTODIO AND ELIAS F. REYES AS HAVING RESIGNED FROM OFFICE AS JUSTICES OF THE PEACE OF SANTA AND NARVACAN, ILOCOS SUR, RESPECTIVELY.
This refers to the administrative cases against Messrs. Vicente B. Custodio and Elias F. Reyes, justices of the peace of Santa and Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, respectively, which arose from an anonymous complaint that Jose Bueno, a national prisoner then serving sentence in the national penitentiary at Muntinlupa, Rizal, was allegedly allowed to stay in the municipal jail of Santa, Ilocos Sur, for two months to await the preliminary investigation of a fabricated complaint before the justice of the peace court of said municipality. A special attorney of the Department of Justice conducted a fact-finding investigation which led to the filing of formal charges against Mr. Custodio for neglect of duty and violation of the Rules of Court in continuously postponing the hearing of the slander case against Jose Bueno when he should have immediately inhibited himself because of his relationship to the accused who is his brother-in-law, and against Mr. Reyes for, among others, grave abuse of authority in issuing an illegal order for the confinement of Jose Bueno, a national prisoner, in the municipal jail of Santa, Ilocos Sur, and keeping him there for two months.
The charges were investigated by the District Judge of Ilocos Sur in which respondents did not present any evidence on their behalf but relied solely on their answers and the records of Criminal Case No. 232 of the justice of the peace court of Santa and Criminal Case No. 1181 of the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur for their defense.
The undisputed facts are as follows:
Jose Bueno, a brother-in-law of respondent Custodio, was convicted by the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur of rape on February 4, 1950, and was sentenced to imprisonment of from 12 years and 1 day to 20 years. This decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals on September 25, 1953. While the above case was pending, Bueno was again accused of the crime of attempted rape in Criminal Case No. 1181 of the same court.
Before Bueno started serving his sentence on March 15, 1954, a criminal case for grave slander by deed was presented against him in the justice of the peace court of Santa (Crim. Case No.232) on January 12, 1954. Respondent Custodio accepted the complaint and issued a warrant of arrest for the accused. The following day, he accepted and approved the bond for the provisional release of the accused which he had fixed at ?600. Thereafter and up to January 24, 1956, Custodio did nothing on the case.
On October 19, 1956, the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur ordered Bueno brought from Muntinlupa to Vigan for trial in Criminal Case No. 1181. When the case was called on November 23, 1956, it was provisionally dismissed because of the unavailability of the complainant and her witnesses. The next day respondent Custodio called Criminal Case No. 232 for trial, and Bueno pleaded not guilty and announced his intention to present witnesses on his behalf. Respondent Custodio set the case for hearing on December 3, 21, and 27, 1956, and January 26, 1957, but the records do not show what transpired on those dates.
On January 26, 1957, or more than three years from the filing of the complaint in Criminal Case No. 232, respondent Custodio inhibited himself from the case on the ground of his relationship to the accused and requested the designation of the nearest justice of the peace to hear the same. Thereupon the District Judge directed responded Reyes to take over the case.
On February 5, 1957, acting on the motion of Buenos counsel, respondent Reyes ordered the confinement of Bueno in the municipal jail of Santa, Ilocos Sur, during the pendency of his criminal case. Bueno, an insular prisoner, remained there from February 5 to April 4, 1957, when respondent Reyes ordered his return to Muntinlupa. During that, period respondent Reyes granted several postponement of the hearing of the cases all upon the request of the accused.
Finally on May 7, 1957, this respondent forwarded the record of Criminal Case No. 232 to the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur which dismissed the same on motion of the provincial fiscal for, among other grounds, lack Of interest of the offended party.
Respondent Custodio alleges that he did not inhibit himself immediately because the accused might waive his right to a preliminary investigation, and he could remand the case right away to the Court of First Instance. His allegation is untenable. It apears that on November 24, 1956, Bueno, his brother-in-law, entered a plea of not guilty and announced his intention to testify on his behalf and to present witnesses for his defense. Yet respondent did not inhibit himself, but, on the contrary, set the case for hearing on December 3, 21, and 27, 1956, and January 26, 1957. Notwithstanding the clear injunction of the Rules of Court, it took him more than three years to disqualify himself. In the meantime, he sat on the case, fixed the amount of bail, and granted numerous postponements.
It is very apparent from the facts and attendant circumstances that respondent Custodio wanted to favor the accused by delaying the proceedings. From the time of the filing of the complaint on January 12, 1954, to March 15, 1954, when the accused, the complainant, and the witnesses were available, respondent did absolutely nothing with the case. And from November 24, 1956, when Bueno pleaded not guilty, to January 26, when respondent finally inhibited himself, he issued several subpoenas to the accused to appear for trial which never took place, clearly indicating a pattern of procedure calculated to enable the accused, his brother-in-law and a national prisoner, to be in his home town of Santa, Ilocos Sur. When the case was indorsed to Reyes, the other respondent, it was already after more than three years. The latter forwarded the case to the Court of First Instance where it was dismissed upon motion of the provincial fiscal, for lack of interest on the part of the complainant.
Respondent Reyes contends that in ordering the confinement of a national prisoner in the municipal jail of Santa without previous approval of superior judicial officers he did not violate any law or regulation. This contention is without merit. His said carder was patently illegal. The fact that the prisoner was then temporarily detained in the stockade of the PC Headquarters at Vigan, Ilocos Sur, did not give respondent authority to issue his aforesaid orders. In the first place, Buenos presence in Vigan was in obedience to a subpoena of the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur issued for the purpose of securing his attendance at the hearing of Criminal Case No. 1181. Secondly, Bueno was then an insular prisoner under the “supervision and control” of the Bureau of Prisons which was “charged with his safekeeping” (Sec. 1707, Rev. Adm. Code). By his order of February 5, 1957, respondent Reyes illegally deprived the Director of Prisons of the custody and safekeeping of the prisoner for two months-an unwarranted interference and a grave abuse of authority.
Under the law, processes of inferior courts “shall not be served outside the boundaries of the province; comprising their respective municipalities, except with the approval of the judge of first instance of said province” (Sec. 4, ‘Rule 124, Rules of Court). And “if a prisoner, not confined in a municipal jail, is required to appear before an inferior court, the Judge of the Court of First Instance of the province where the inferior court is sitting, or any Justice of the Court; of Appeals or of the Supreme Court may issue the subpoena” (Sec. 2, Rule 29, ibid.). Prisoner Jose Bueno, who was serving a 20-year term of imprisonment in the national penitentiary was “not confined in a municipal jail” but was under the legal custody of the Director of Prisons. Yet, respondent Reyes issued the order of February 5, 1957, under his own authority and without coursing the same thrught the Judge of the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur.
It is significant to note that in the motion of Buenos counsel dated February 4, 1957, it was prayed that the accused be “ordered confined either at the place where he is still confined either at the Stockade, PC Hq. Tamag, Vigan, Ilocos Sur, or at the Municipal jail at Santa, Ilocos Sur, or at any other place allowed by law where his safety is secured.” Strangely, respondent chose to have the accused confined at Santa, Ilocos Sur, which, choice he immediately effected through the issuance of his illicit order. Therefore, he sat on the case against Bueno for two months by granting three postponements all upon the request of the accused; I am thus inclined to believe that respondent Reyes, with grave abuse of authority, adopted this course of action for no other purpose than to enable the prisoner, a brother-in-law-of his fellow justice of the peace to enjoy a prolonged stay in his home town of Santa, Ilocos Sur.
The District Judge recommended that the respondents be suspended from office for one month. However, the then Secretary of Justice believed that the seriousness of the irregularities committed warranted their complete separation from the service. After considering the matter carefully, I believe that the judges recommendation is rather too lenient and that of the former Secretary somewhat severe, involving as it does forfeiture of benefits for service in the Government. A course somewhat in the middle is believed appropriate in the premises.
Wherefore, Messrs. Vicente B. Custodio and Elias F. Reyes are hereby considered as having resigned from office as justices of the peace of Santa and Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, respectively, effective upon receipt of a copy of this order, without prejudice to receiving such retirement and/or other benefits as they may be entitled to under the law.
Done in the City of Manila, this 11th day of February, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-nine, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the thirteenth.1aшphi1
(Sgd.) CARLOS P. GARCIA
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.) JUAN C. PAJO
Executive Secretary
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