SC fires judge for borrowing money

By JIGGER J. JERUSALEM
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

THE Supreme Court has dismissed a judge and barred him from holding a position in the government for life for borrowing money from litigants in cases pending before his court.

The SC announced on its website on Thursday its decision to dismiss Judge Bonifacio Macabaya of the 20th branch of the Regional Trial Court in Misamis Oriental.

The SC en banc decision was handed down on Tuesday, according to the announcement.

Aside from removal from office, the high court also forfeited Macabaya’s retirement benefits for violation of Paragraph 7, Section 8, Rule 140 of the Rules of Court, “which also constitutes gross misconduct in violation of the New Code of Judicial Conduct.”

The SC also slapped Macabaya with a perpetual disqualification from public service — meaning, he cannot be re-employed in government.

The decision against Macabaya was a result of the complaints of Leonaria Neri, Abeto Salcedo Jr. and his wife Jocelyn, Evangeline Camposano and Hugo Amorillo Jr.. They complained that Macabaya “sought them outside the courtroom and borrowed a large sum of money from them while their respective cases were pending before his sala.”

Based on the SC announcement, the sworn statements were executed before the RTC’s executive judge who then forwarded it to the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA).

“Subsequently, the OCA endorsed the administrative case to the SC which in turn referred the same to a Court of Appeals (CA) justice for investigation,” the SC said.

Macabaya, in his defense, had denied the allegations and asserted that his accusers were only coerced to file a complaint against him as part of a “grand design by an OCA official and other judges to discredit him.”

But the SC said Macabaya’s “general denial carries little weight,” adding that judges “must adhere to the highest standards of judicial conduct and public accountability lest his action erode the public faith in the judiciary.”