SECOND
DIVISION
IN
RE: TRANSFER OF VENUE A.M. No. 03-6-349-RTC
OF
ALL ILUSORIO CASES
FROM
THE REGIONAL TRIAL
COURT
OF BAGUIO CITY TO
METRO
MANILA
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IN RE: INHIBITION OF ALL A.M. No. 03-07-376-RTC
THE
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
JUDGES OF BAGUIO CITY Present:
FROM
HEARING CIVIL CASE
NO.
5216-R AND CRIMINAL PUNO, J., Chairperson,
CASE NO. 20521-R SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ,
CORONA,
AZCUNA and
GARCIA, JJ.
Promulgated:
August
22, 2006
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R E S O L U T I O N
CORONA, J.:
For
resolution of this Court are (1) a motion for further clarification[1] filed by
Baguio Country Club Corporation (BCC) and (2) a
motion to correct resolution[2] filed by
Ma. Erlinda Ilusorio-Bildner,
Sylvia K. Ilusorio and Maximo
K. Ilusorio. The subject of the foregoing motions is
the March 8, 2004 resolution of the Court in A.M. No. 03-6-349-RTC which in
turn amended a (previous) resolution dated July 14, 2003.
Prior
to July 14, 2003, Erlinda K. Ilusorio
requested[3] the
transfer of venue of all Ilusorio cases[4] from the
Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Baguio City to any RTC,
preferably in Metro Manila.[5]
On July 14, 2003, the Court denied her request for lack of
merit. Instead, the Court designated Judge Clifton Ganay
of RTC, Branch 31, Agoo, La Union to try and decide all
cases involving the Ilusorio family and BCC if the
judges of the Baguio City RTC had declined to hear
them. The dispositive
portion of the resolution read:
[T]he Court Resolved:
a.
to
DENY the petition of Mrs. Erlinda K. Ilusorio for the transfer of all the Ilusorio
cases and/or BCC cases from RTC[-]Baguio City to any
RTC, preferably in Metro Manila, for lack of merit; and
b.
to
DESIGNATE Judge Clifton Ganay of RTC, Branch 31, Agoo, La Union to try and decide all cases involving the Ilusorio family and [BCC] where the judges of the RTC-Baguio [City] have issued orders of inhibition.
Thereafter, BCC sought clarification
of the foregoing designation. It wanted to know whether the Court was ordering
the automatic transfer of the cases involving it to Judge Ganay
if the judge trying the case had inhibited himself, even if not all the judges
of the aforesaid court had done the same.
To dispel the confusion, we issued a
resolution on March 8, 2004 amending paragraph (b) of the dispositive
portion of the July 14, 2003 resolution to read as follows:
[T]o
designate Judge Clifton Ganay of Regional Trial
Court, Agoo, La Union, Branch 31 to try and decide
all cases involving the Ilusorio family and [BCC]
which are Civil Case Nos. 5104-R, 1067-R, 5289-R, 4928-R, 5039-R, 1012-R,
4750-R, and 4537-R where all the judges of the Regional Trial Court, Baguio have issued orders of inhibition.
Still in a quandary, BCC filed another
motion, this time for clarification[6] of the
March 8, 2004 resolution.
On the other hand, Ma. Erlinda Ilusorio-Bildner, Sylvia
K. Ilusorio and Maximo K. Ilusorio filed their own motion to correct the March 8,
2004 resolution.[7]
They prayed for the exclusion of S.P. No. 1067-R entitled “In the Matter of the
Probate of the Will of Potenciano T. Ilusorio” from the cases listed in the resolution inasmuch
as Judge Clarence Villanueva[8] opted to
continue presiding over the case.
On BCC’s motion (for clarification),
the Court quotes with approval the memorandum of the Court Administrator dated
January 19, 2004:
…[T]here
is no automatic transfer of cases of the Ilusorio
family or of [BCC] case[s] to Judge Ganay. As stated
in the resolution, the request of Mrs. Erlinda K. Ilusorio to have the venue of cases transferred was that “the
petitioner has not exhausted all the available remedies under the law. If she
believes that some of the judges in Baguio City are
impartial and she has evidence to prove the same, she can ask for their
inhibition.” Hence, a case goes to Judge Ganay if
all the judges of the Regional Trial Court shall inhibit from
trying the case. Otherwise stated, a judge of RTC [-] Baguio
City cannot immediately transfer the case to Judge Ganay
until all of them shall have recused themselves from
hearing such case/s.
As for the Bildner
group’s motion (for correction of our March 8, 2004 resolution), we deny the same
for the reason stated below.
The enumeration of cases in the dispositive portion of the amended (March 8, 2004) resolution
of the Court was merely for the purpose of specifying the cases covered by A.M.
No. 03-6-349-RTC so as to avoid any confusion that could cloud the resolution
of this matter.[9]
Nowhere in the resolution was it stated that the cases listed there were to be
transferred automatically to Judge Ganay.
Paragraph (b) of the dispositive portion, as amended, meant that the listed
cases would be transferred to Judge Ganay if and
only if all judges of the Baguio City RTC inhibited
from hearing them. The designation of
Judge Ganay was intended to be a last resort, to take
effect only in the extreme event that all judges of the aforementioned court
declined to hear and decide the cases specified. It was not the intention of
this Court to indiscriminately dump all cases on Judge Ganay’s
lap. His designation becomes operative only if all the Baguio
RTC judges refuse to take part in these cases.[10]
Moreover, the 2002 Revised Manual for
Clerks of Court provides:
xxx xxx
xxx
In
any case where the Judge concerned is disqualified or voluntarily inhibits
himself, the records shall be returned to the Executive Judge and the case
shall be included in the regular raffle for re-assignment….[11]
The interpretation of the Bildner group’s counsel is therefore erroneous and way out
of line. There is no need to amend the resolution dated March 8, 2004 and
exclude S.P. No. 1067-R from the cases listed therein.
WHEREFORE, the Court hereby resolves to DENY
the motions for further clarification and to correct resolution.
Paragraph (b) of the resolution dated
July 14, 2003, as amended by the March 8, 2004 resolution, is hereby
reiterated.
Judge Clifton Ganay
of Regional Trial Court, Agoo, La Union, Branch 31 is
designated “to try and decide all cases involving the Ilusorio
family and Baguio Country Club which are Civil Case
Nos. 5104-R, 1067-R, 5289-R, 4928-R, 5039-R, 1012-R, 4750-R, and 4537-R where
all the judges of the Regional Trial Court, Baguio
[City] have issued orders of inhibition.”
SO ORDERED.
Associate Justice
WE CONCUR:
Associate Justice
Chairperson
Associate Justice Associate Justice
CANCIO C. GARCIA
Associate Justice
[1] Dated April 29, 2004.
[2] Dated June 18, 2004.
[3] This request was conveyed in two letters dated June 25, 2002 and September 11, 2002, respectively.
[4] There are eight Ilusorio cases pending before the RTC of Baguio City: Civil Case Nos. 5104-R, 1067-R, 5289-R, 4928-R, 5039-R, 1012-R, 4750-R, and 4537-R.
[5] Report of the Office of the Court Administrator dated June 5, 2003.
[6] Supra note 1.
[7] Supra note 2.
[8] Judge Villanueva was dismissed from the service for immorality in the Court’s resolution in A.M. No. RTJ-05-1927, Judge Ruben C. Ayson v. RTC Judges of Baguio City promulgated on June 26, 2006.
[9] Supra.
[10] Supra.
[11] Volume 1, Chapter IV, Section E, Paragraph 1.1.3.5 (b), p. 218.