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SC dismisses judge in Golden Buddha case


The Supreme Court has dismissed a Baguio City judge for “gross ignorance of the law" in connection with a Golden Buddha statue that is being claimed by the family of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. In a decision released Jan. 18, 2011, the SC said Judge Fernando Pamintuan of the Baguio City Regional Trial Court overlooked a basic legal principle when he reversed a ruling that was already final and executory. The high court was referring to Pamintuan’s ruling in 2006 reversing a then 10-year-old decision by Baguio RTC Branch 3 Judge Antonio Reyes ordering the return of the Golden Buddha statue to the family of the man who found it, Rogelio Roxas, who died in 1993. “The [Supreme] Court finds Judge Pamintuan accountable for gross ignorance of the law. He could have simply been suspended and fined, but the Court cannot take his previous infractions lightly. His violations are serious in character. Having been previously warned for various infractions, Judge Pamintuan now deserves the ultimate administrative penalty — dismissal from service," the SC said. Roxas unearthed the Golden Buddha statue — supposedly filled with gold bars and diamonds — in 1971. The statue was reportedly part of the so-called Yamashita Treasure left by Japanese soldiers after World War II. The discovery allegedly caught the interest of then President Marcos, who supposedly stole the statue from Roxas and replaced it with a fake one, which is now in the custody of the Baguio City court. Marcos was ousted in Malacañang in 1986 and went on exile in Hawaii, where he died three years later. A Hawaii court later ordered the Marcoses to pay the Roxas family millions of dollars for the alleged theft of the Buddha statue. In 1996, Reyes, in a final and executory ruling, ordered the release of the statue and its return to the Roxas family — an order reversed by Pamintuan, motu propio or on his own, 10 years later . Pamintuan said the Golden Buddha statue in the court’s custody was a replica of the original. Marcos’ widow, former First Lady and incumbent Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, contested Pamintuan’s ruling before the Supreme Court. The SC said Pamintuan should not have ruled that the statue in the court’s custody was fake because “the trial court did not rule on that point in its May 30, 1996 order." - KBK, GMANews.TV

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