Dondiego v. Cuevas

EN BANC A.M. No. P-03-1681 February 28, 2003 JUDGE VERONICA A. DONDIEGO, complainant, vs. PETRONIO D. CUEVAS, JR., CLERK OF COURT, MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURT, TAMBULIG, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR , respondent. PER CURIAM : Judge Veronica A. Dondiego, the Municipal Trial Court (MTC) Judge of Tambulig, Zamboanga del Sur, sent a sworn letter-complaint, dated 22 June 1999, addressed to then Court Administrator Alfredo Benipayo, against Petronio D. Cuevas, Jr., Clerk of Court II, MTC, of Tambulig, Zamboanga del Sur, charging the latter with incompetence, dishonesty and gross neglect of duty. Judge Dondiego is assigned to different salas in five municipalities and one city.

In order to cope with her work, she has entrusted much of the supervision of administrative matters in each sala to the respective clerks of court. In her letter-complaint, Judge Dondiego stated that respondent Cuevas was most of the time either not in his office or absent from work even when the Judge would be in Tambulig. Once, a litigant complained to the Judge that the cash bond deposited with respondent could not be accounted for by the latter.

When confronted by the Judge about it, respondent neither denied nor admitted having taken the amount. The Judge then instructed a member of her staff to obtain a certification and computerized bank statement from the Rural Bank of Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental, where the court was maintaining its account. It appeared from the bank statement of 01 February 1999, that the court's deposit of P20,936.55 did not tally with what had been posted by way of cash bonds per the court's records.

Respondent thenceforth kept on evading the Judge. Sometime later, in May 1999, the Judge issued Office Order No. 01-99 requiring respondent to submit MCTC Savings Passbook Account No. 51-04063-4. When shown to her, Judge Dondiego was dumbfounded to see that as of 05 May 1999, there was a balance of only P8,093.77, as against the bonds posted with the court, totaling P25,800.00, still not withdrawn, to wit: 1) Criminal Case No. 1939 - P20,000.00 2) Criminal Case No. 1780 - 1,800.00 3) Criminal Case No. 1765 - 2,500.00 4) Criminal Case No. 1934 - 1,500.00 Total