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Supreme Court may take action if irregularities found in PCSO court cases — Bersamin
The Supreme Court may "come into the picture" concerning lower court cases involving the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) if its review of status reports shows irregularities in judges' actions, Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin said Wednesday.
The Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) will determine "if there is a need to investigate deeper or to just call the judges' attention to whatever shortcomings there were," Bersamin said, but stressed that any move on the part of the Court would not immediately be "condemnatory."
The circular that contained the order was released shortly after President Rodrigo Duterte halted PCSO gaming operations due to what he said was massive corruption in the agency.
Bersamin said orders like that of the OCA are "regular" and "normal," and that the office will look at the judges' reports and find out if there is a ground for further investigation.
Declining to comment on supposed temporary restraining orders issued by some courts on preterminated contracts between the PCSO and STL operators, Bersamin assured that the judges will be presumed to have acted in good faith and performed their duties.
"If we would find based on the study of their actions that there were things that were done wrong or procedures that were transgressed, that could be another matter, but I'm not going to anticipate any of those," he said.
The Chief Justice said the SC does not review judges' judicial actions out of respect for their independence. He said the Court will stand behind judges "until we find there is evidence that they did wrong."
"But if the transgressions are very serious, and they affected the rights of the parties, that's the time that we will come in," he said.
"Meron tayong tinatawag dyan na initiative na namin 'yan and we do not need to wait for anyone to file the complaint. Now as far as proof is concerned, that's a different matter," he added. — RSJ, GMA News
