04-10-593-Rtc v. Laya

Republic of the Philippines SUPREME COURT Baguio City EN BANC A.M. No. P-04-1924 April 27, 2007 [Formerly A.M. No. 04-10-593-RTC and OCA IPI No. 04-1890-P] OFFICE OF THE COURT ADMINISTRATOR, Complainant, vs. JUSTAFINA HOPE T. LAYA, Clerk III, and BENILDA M. MADDELA, Clerk IV, RTC-OCC, Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya, Respondents. x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x FLAVIANO D. BALGOS, JR., RUBY ROSA R. ESPINO, and JOHN D. BALASYA, Complainants, vs. JUSTAFINA HOPE T. LAYA, Clerk III, RTC-OCC, Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya, Respondent. PER CURIAM: Once more, the Court reiterates its concern x x x about the propensity of accountable officers in the judiciary to yield to the temptation to use public funds for personal interests.

But, as it tries to devise the appropriate action to strengthen the moral fiber and strength of character of the employees and officers that constitute the judiciary, this court shall never be less strict in applying only the highest standards of propriety, decorum, integrity, uprightness and honesty from the highest judicial officer of the land to the humblest court employee, for the ultimate power of this court lies in its incorruptibility.1 The factual antecedents of this case are as follows: A financial audit was conducted by the Court Management Office (CMO), Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) in the Office of the Clerk of Court (OCC), Regional Trial Court (RTC), Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya, in response to a letter from Executive Judge Gil L. Valdez, which was received by this Court on March 21, 2003, stating that there are unaccounted funds in said office.2 The case is docketed as A.M. No. P-04-1924 (formerly A.M. No. 04-10-593-RTC).

During the pendency of said audit, the Court received a letter dated March 10, 2004 from Prosecutor Emerson Turingan of Bayombong, forwarding the entire records of I.S. No. 2941-K-2002-A, entitled "Flaviano D. Balgos, Jr., et al. v. Benilda Maddela and Justafina Hope T. Laya " for Qualified Theft.3 In said case, former Clerks of Court of the OCC-RTC Bayombong, Attys. Flaviano D. Balgos, Jr. (Atty. Balgos), Ruby Rosa R. Espino (Atty. Espino), and John D. Balasya (Atty. Balasya), accused Benilda Maddela (Maddela), and Justafina Hope T. Laya (Laya), collecting officers of the OCC, of misappropriating court funds.4 Contained in the records are: (1) an Affidavit-Complaint et al. dated November 26, 2002, stating that Maddela and Laya admitted shortage in the court funds, which at that time amounted to ₱800,000.00, with a promise to restitute the same;5 (2) a promissory note signed by Maddela and Laya dated October 4, 1999, promising to jointly and solidarily restitute the amount of ₱800,000.00 which amount may increase or decrease depending on the final outcome of the audit;6 (3) a joint affidavit7 (4) a letter from Atty. Balgos, et al. dated May 15, 2002, requesting the Provincial Auditor to conduct an audit on the books of accounts of the OCC;8 and, (5) letters from Josephine Camonayan (Camonayan) of the Commission on Audit (COA) Bayombong, dated June 5, 2002, addressed to Maddela and Laya stating that Maddela incurred a shortage of ₱2,450,113.90 and Laya, the amount of ₱53,257.20 which they are required to produce within 72 hours together with an explanation why such shortages occurred.9 The case is docketed as OCA I.P.I No. 04-1890-P. In her Comment, 10 in OCA I.P.I. No. 04-1890-P, Laya claimed that she should not be accused of dishonesty as she was only forced to enter into a compromise agreement and she already remitted a large amount of money since 1998.

Specifically, she alleged that: as Clerk III it is not her function to receive collections for the office and she only helped in collecting funds whenever Maddela or Helena Dacayo, Staff Assistant IV,11 was absent or busy; the Clerks of Court never requested the COA to audit the collections of the office and since it could not be determined who was responsible for the missing amount, she and Maddela were just made to compute their respective collections based on the initials on the receipts; she was pressured to shoulder her collection, whether remitted or not, with the assurance that an audit will be conducted and any payment made will be returned after they find out who is responsible for the missing amount; she was forced by her superiors to sign a promissory note and later an unnotarized document dated September 26, 2000; from November 1998 to December 3, 2002, she gave ₱232,550.00 under protest to the clerks of court who did not immediately deposit the same, and ₱73,300.00 to Zosimo Javier (Javier), Cash Clerk of the OCC; later the amount of ₱373,257.20 was also found to be missing and she (Laya) entered into a compromise agreement where she shouldered ₱73,257.20; she remitted ₱20,000.00 on April 23, 2002, another ₱20,000.00 on August 18, 2002 and ₱33,270.20 on December 2, 2003 with the assurance from Balasya that if she remitted the said amount her name would be dropped from the complaint; and, Maddela acknowledged that all her (Laya's) collections were already remitted with an excess of ₱93,191.80.12 On September 20, 2004, the Court issued a Resolution consolidating the records of OCA-IPI No. 04-1890-P with P-04-1924.13 On September 23, 2004, the Financial Audit Team submitted its report finding Attys.

Balgos, Espino and Balasya, as well as herein respondents Maddela and Laya liable, thus: x x x there is sufficient basis in filing criminal and administrative cases, whenever applicable against the following accountable public officers who have incurred substantial shortages in their accounts, as shown in these audit findings: Accountable Officer Fund Name Shortage Amount Atty. Balgos JDF14 ₱ 241,030.94 FF15 135,836.10