Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
FIRST DIVISION
A.M. No. P-145 October 31, 1974
ROSALINA P. CAPE, complainant,
vs.
BENJAMIN N. MUÑASQUE, respondent.
MAKALINTAL, C.J.:p
The complainant Rosalina P. Cape, in a letter-complaint dated June 8, 1973, charged respondent Benjamin N. Muñasque, Clerk of Court of the Court of First Instance in Cotabato City, with oppression, grave abuse of authority, misconduct in office and habitual drunkenness. The said complaint was filed obviously as a countercharge to another complaint, dated February 2, 1972, which herein respondent Muñasque filed against Rosalina Cape for insubordination and conduct prejudicial to the best interest to the service (Adm. Matter No. P-227). The administrative complaint against Rosalina Cape was dismissed by this Court in its resolution of September 30, 1974. The following portion of the said resolution has relevance to and is decisive of the instant complaint against respondent Benjamin N. Muñasque.
District Judge Glicerio V. Carriaga, Jr., of the Court of First Instance of Cotabato, Cotabato City Branch, to whom the case was assigned for investigation, report and recommendation, in an order issued on December 13, 1973, ordered the dismissal of this complaint "in view of the fact that the parties have already come to an amicable settlement of this case." The order reads:
When this case was called for hearing this afternoon, the respondent presented through counsel two affidavits now on file with the records of the case and the two affidavits are hereto reproduced:
I, ROSALINA P. CAPE, of legal age, single, Court Stenographer and residing at Cotabato City, Philippines, after having been duly sworn to in accordance with law, do hereby declare and manifest:
That I am the complainant in a letter-complaint filed with the Department of Justice, Manila, against Atty. Benjamin Muñasque Clerk of Court, Branch I of the Court of First Instance of Cotabato for delay in the disposition of Administrative Case No. 75, Abuse of Authority and Misconduct in office and habitual drunkenness;
That I am no longer interested in the further prosecution of the case for the following reasons:
1. That I am a poor girl and cannot afford to pursue the case any longer;
2. I have no more witnesses because I lost contact of them in spite of efforts exerted to look for them;
3. I consider him like an elder brother because I have stayed in their house for quite a time, and the letter-complaint was filed by me at the time I was informed that the renewal of my appointment as Court Stenographer and my eventual transfer to the other Sala of this Court cannot be effected because of the pending charge against me and the letter-complaint was the product of intrigues and the result only of some minor misunderstanding.
"That for the reasons stated above, I am requesting the Department of Justice and/or the office of the Judicial-Consultant, Supreme Court of the Philippines to consider the matter as closed as I am withdrawing my complaint against Atty. Benjamin Muñasque:
"That this affidavit is made and executed to show that I am no longer interested in the continuance of the case.
"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of December, 1973, at Cotabato City, Philippines."
"I, ROSALINA P. CAPE, of legal age, single, Court Stenographer and residing at Cotabato City, Philippines, after having been duly sworn to in accordance with law, do hereby depose and say:
That I am the respondent in Administrative Case No. 75 for insubordination and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, filed by Atty. Benjamin Muñasque Clerk of Court, Branch I of the Court of First Instance of Cotabato;
That if ever I have committed any act which was resented to by Atty. Benjamin Muñasque I ask for his forgiveness, he being my superior.
"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of December, 1973 at Cotabato City, Philippines."
Thereafter, the complainant, Atty. Benjamin N. Muñasque made the following comments to said affidavits:
Your Honor, please, when this case was supposed to be called for hearing last Nov. 29, there were interested parties who worked for the amicable settlement of this case, so that this representation did not object to the postponement of this case to December 7 and 10. When this case was called on December 10, it was further postponed for today because the supposed amicable settlement has not been finalized. Taking into consideration that the respondent herein has signed affidavits and manifested that she wants this case to be settled amicably because it will be very hard for her to be going to Cotabato and knowing her predicament with the understanding that she realized the hardship of having a case, I respectfully withdraw the charges I have previously filed against her.
WHEREFORE, in view of the fact that the parties have already come to an amicable settlement of this case, the same is hereby ordered dismissed. Let a copy of this order, as well as the copies of the two affidavits of the respondent, be forwarded to the Department of Justice and to the Office of the Personnel Division of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
Apparently these charges and countercharges emanated from a misunderstanding, personal in nature to both parties, and do not in any way affect their fitness for the positions they are holding nor the performance of their duties; that for lack of interest and spontaneous desistance of both parties the charges and countercharges which merely resulted from a quarrel can no longer be proven; and that to order the termination of this case will in no way prejudice public service.
The order of the district judge dismissing the case is considered as his recommendation to the court which takes final action on cases of this nature.
WHEREFORE, this case is dismissed with an admonition to both parties not to waste the time of the courts in petty quarrels between them and to realize that their official positions demand more dignity and ethical decorum in their relationship with each other so as to set a good example for their co-workers to emulate.
In view of the foregoing, this case is dismissed with the same admonition given by this Court in Administrative Matter No. P-227.
Teehankee, Makasiar, Esguerra, and Muñoz Palma, JJ., concur.
Castro, J, took no part.
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