Administrative Order No. 152




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ Administrative Order No. 152, December 3, 1965 ] REMOVING MR. ANGEL V. CAMPOY FROM OFFICE AS JUDGE OF DUMAGUETE CITY This is an administrative case against Mr. Angel. V. Campoy, Judge of Dumaguete City, for (1) electioneering, (2) abuse of authority and oppression and (3) falsification of public document. The case was investigated by the District Judge of the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental who found respondent guilty of the charges and recommended his dismissal. The Secretary of Justice finds that the first two charges have not been duly substantiated, but agrees with the recommended penalty in view of his finding of guilt in the remaining charge for falsification of public document. It is alleged under the first count that respondent urged voters to vote for the candidates of the Nationalista Party during the 1961 elections within the premises of precincts II and II-A of Barrio Ajong, Sibulan, Negros Oriental. Respondents presence in said premises at the time of the elections in question was neither unusual nor suspicious, it appearing that he is a native of Sibulan and a former mayor thereof. It is unbelievable that he would be so imprudent as to publicly commit the act im puted to him, considering that after the 1959 elections he was already administratively charged with a like offense. Respondent is therefore cleared of the electioneering charge. Neither is there any evidence of his having abused his authority and oppressed Gabriel Dilon and Leonardo Abol, as claimed under the second charge, by causing their arrest on or immediately before election day in 1961 thereby preventing them from casting their votes. The case against the two was filed not in respondents court but in the municipal court of Sibulan. The municipal judge thereof, Jufelinito Pareja, who accepted the complaint against Dilon and Abol, testified that he issued the warrant of arrest on November 13, 1961, not only on the basis of the affidavits attached to the complaint against them but also on the result of his own investigation of the complaint. There is no conclusive proof that the warrant of arrest was actually served on November 13 or 14, 1961, which prevented Dilon and Abol from exercising their right of suffrage. However, the evidence shows that respondent is guilty of the last charge of falsification of public document. It appears that on June 3, 1959, respondent prepared a document entitled “Extrajudicial Settlement and Sale” wherein Sixto Abol and his seven (7) children, one of them Esperanza Abol, agreed, among other things, to sell to respondent a piece of land owned by them in common, identified as Lot No. 2566, situated at Sibulan, Negros Oriental, and covered by Original Certificate of Title No. O-V-691. In view of Esperanzas refusal to sell her share of the land and to sign the document transferring ehe property to respondent, the latter deleted her name appearing on the deed of conveyance already signed by her father and six (6) others to make it appear that the latter were the only co-owners of Lot No. 2566, filled the blank spaces of the acknowledgment of the deed reserved for the residence certificates of the vendors with those issued to persons other than the vendors and had it ratified before a notary public. On June 11, 1959, respondent presented the falsified deed of conveyance in the Office of the Register of Deeds in Dumaguete City, on the strength of which Original Certificate of Title No. O-V-691 was cancelled and Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-7272 issued to the seven (7) co-owners, with Esperanza Abol excluded. On the same day, Transfer Certificate of Title No. E-7276 cancelling Transfer Certificate of Title No. 7272 was issued in the name of respondent as registered and sole owner of Lot No. 2566.1aшphi1 Respondent denied responsibility for the entry of said residence certificates numbers in the deed of conveyance. However, Atty. Ricardo Abiera, the notary public before whom the instrument was ratified, asserted that the entries therein were made by respondent himself. Respondents disclaimer is untenable, since it was he who had obtained the signatures of the vendors and brought the deed to the notary public for acknowledgment and he alone stood to benefit by the existence of the document. Respondents fraudulent acquisition of the land by means of a falsified document proves that he is utterly unfit to remain in the public service, particularly in the judiciary, where only men possessed of high integrity and proven honesty have the right to be. Wherefore, and upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Justice, Mr. Angel V. Campoy is hereby removed from office as Judge of Dumaguete City, elective upon receipt of a copy of this order. Done in the City of Manila, this 3rd day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and sixty-five. (Sgd.) DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL President of the Philippines By the President: (Sgd.) SALVADOR L. MARIÑO Acting Executive Secretary The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation