CA orders recusal of judge in San Miguel's case against Indonesian partner

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered a Marikina City trial court judge to recuse herself from handling a qualified theft complaint filed by San Miguel Holdings Corporation (SMHC) against Indonesian businessman and former partner Shadik Wahono and others.

A July 11 decision shows the CA's Former Ninth Division directed the case's raffling off to another judge for trial after it found Marikina City Regional Trial Court Branch 193 Judge Alice Gutierrez to have displayed bias and partiality in the proceedings under her watch.

"Judge Gutierrez may not be legally prohibited from sitting in the case a quo. But there are suggestions which are made of record that she is predisposed to act in favor of private respondents, or with bias or prejudice against petitioners," the CA through Associate Justice Sesinando Villon said.

CA Associate Justices Manuel Barrios and Renato Francisco concurred.

The case before the appeals court stemmed from the petition filed by SMHC, the infrastructure unit of San Miguel Corporation (SMC), that sought the reversal of Gutierrez's denial of the firm's pleas that asked for her disqualification from the qualified theft case.

SMHC had accused Wahono, then president of Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. (CMMTC), and then-officers Alvin Bugtas, Nadiya Stamboel, and Fema Christina Piramide-Sayson of conspiring to cause the unauthorized disbursement of P50.25 million, an amount used to incorporate another company called Citra Central Expressway Corp.

In its recent ruling, the CA held that the records show "valid and existing grounds" for Gutierrez to recuse herself from the case, citing in particular a July 18, 2017 pre-trial conference where the judge "exhibited a degree of aversion or hostility" toward SMHC.

The CA observed that the transcript of the said proceedings reveal Gutierrez was "predisposed" to block SMHC's participation in the case, in effect accepting as "gospel truth and without hesitation" the respondents' claim that SMHC did not have a personality to join the proceedings as it does not involve a civil aspect.

"All told, Judge Gutierrez has displayed more than a hint of bias and partiality in the proceedings before the court a quo. It is only proper for her to inhibit herself from further presiding therein," the CA ruled in the 16-page decision.

"Judge Gutierrez may not be legally prohibited from sitting in the case a quo. But there are suggestions which are made of record that she is predisposed to act in favor of private respondents, or with bias or prejudice against petitioners."

The appellate court likewise said it cannot fault SMHC for questioning Gutierrez's fairness, in view of the the timing of her issuance of orders last year that amounted to an acquittal of Bugtas and Piramide-Sayson and that junked the criminal complaints against Wahono and Stamboel.

"The Court cannot turn a blind eye to the timing of the issuance of these questioned orders which petitioners now submit to have been tainted with manifest bias," the CA said.

"Like Caesar's wife, a judge must be beyond suspicion and that she should maintain nothing less than cold neutrality and impartiality, otherwise, the wisest course for a judge would be to disqualify herself."

Earlier in the year, the appeals court issued a writ of preliminary injunction enjoining the judge from implementing the dismissal order. The respondents are now questioning the issuance of the writ before the Supreme Court. —JST, GMA News