SC sacks Laguna judge tagged in ‘Ma'am Arlene’ mess

Even before a decision could be handed down on a Laguna trial court judge implicated in the "Ma'am Arlene" mess in the judiciary, he has already been dismissed by the Supreme Court for gross misconduct in a separate case.

In a 32-page decision, the high tribunal ordered the dismissal of Judge Marino Rubia of the Biñan, Laguna Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 24 for gross violations of the New Code of Judicial Conduct.

With his dismissal, Rubia's retirement benefits, except accrued leave credits, have been forfeited. He has also been prevented from reinstatement or appointment in any public office, including government-owned or -controlled corporations.

"Respondent Judge Rubia is further ordered to cease and desist from discharging the functions of his office upon receipt of this decision," the SC said in its ruling, which was immediately executory.

Meanwhile, the SC imposed a one-year suspension against Eileen Pecañaa, data encoder of Binan, Laguna RTC for violations of the Code of Conduct for Court Personnel.

The SC decision was in response to an administrative complaint filed by Emilie Sison-Barias, who has three cases concerning the estate of her late husband pending before Rubia.

In her complaint, Barias revealed that she had a dinner meeting with Rubia and Pecaña at a restaurant in The Fort, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on March 3, 2010 where they discussed her pending cases.

Through their conversation during the dinner meeting, Barias noticed that Rubia seemed to be taking a position in favor of her opposing counsel, lawyer Noe Zarate.

Rubia also allegedly asked Barias questions not related to her pending cases and never mentioned in any of the pleadings, including some personql questions. Barias suspected that only Zarate, through out-of-court conversations with Rubia, could have been providing these information to the judge.

The complainant also narrated several instances where Rubia has allegedly shown bias in favor of her (Barias') mother-in-law, Romelias Almeda-Barias and Evelyn Tanael, the opposing parties in the cases she filed before the Biñan RTC.

Partiality

Among those instances where the judge has shown impartiality was when Rubia failed to require a timely filing of the pre-trial brief on the part of Tanael and Almeda-Barias, and despite their non-compliance on four seprate pre-trials that were postponed, Tanael and Almeda-Barias were still not declared in default, according to Barias.

Barias' complaint against the judge and Pecaña was initially referred by the Office of the Court Administrator to the Court of Appeals, which ruled through CA Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan in favor of Rubia and Pecaña, saying he was convinced that the meeting in Taguig was a "chance meeting."

In its decision, the SC however sided with Barias, saying Gaerlan failed to considered important evidence related to the case.

"After scrutinizing the testimony of complainant and the evidence she presented to support her allegations, we find her accounts of the event to be genuine and believable," said the SC.

"Complainant's narration of the dinner meeting held on March 3, 2010 and her account of events leading up to the dinner meeting were detailed and comprehensive. The conversation alleged by complainant that took place with respondents during the meeting was replete with details," it added.

The SC said the "strongest corroborative evidence" to support the complainant's allegatioms was the exchange of text messages between her and Pecaña regarding the dinner meeting.

"These text messages were admitted by respondent Pecaña. However Justice Gaerlan failed to give any weight to the exchange of text messages. This fact was not included in his investigation report," the SC ruled.

'Ma'am Arlene' mess

The SC has recently ordered the CA to further investigate Rubia and three other RTC judges implicated in alleged influence peddling in the judiciary by a certain "Ma'am Arlene."

"Ma'am Arlene,” described in earlier news reports as the judiciary's version of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, first entered national consciousness through Jarius Bondoc's column in the Philippine Star last year.

According to Bondoc's column, "Ma'am Arlene" throws birthday parties for appellate court justices and trial court judges and finances their family trips abroad, among other things, in exchange for favors in cases. — JDS, GMA News