BY FELIPE CELINO
ROXAS City — A court ordered a Provincial Board member to pay a fine of P25,000 for moral damages for “humiliating” a retired judge.
Board member Remia Fuentes-Bartolome was accused by retired judge Roger Patricio of embarrassing him during a proceeding on a move to oust Pilar Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Municipal Federation president Harby Renson Patricio.
After engaging in a verbal row on February 5, the two traded charges.
Patricio filed a case against Bartolome for “humiliating” him and asked the latter to pay him P300,000 for moral damages.
Bartolome, meanwhile, filed a disbarment case against the elder Patricio before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Capiz Chapter for calling her a “Bar flunker” in one of the latter’s media interviews.
In a decision dated September 27, 2012 and promulgated on October 3, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 18 Judge Ignacio Alajar said the Board member must pay the fine.
In the same ruling, the court declared the writ of preliminary injunction case permanent and the decision dated February 22, 2012 of SK Provincial Federation president Zoe Marie Felipe Herrera null and void.
Barangay SK presidents earlier filed a complaint against Pilar SK president Patricio before the SK Provincial Federation over the latter’s alleged neglect of duty.
Led by Poblacion SK president Ma. Cris Norlene Bonilla, 21 of 24 barangay SK presidents in Pilar filed the complaint against Harby Renson Patricio before the office of Herrera.
They accused Patricio of failing to call regular monthly meetings and committing dereliction of duties.
They later voted for the dismissal of the younger Patricio of Brgy. Dulangan, Pilar.
But the RTC found that the younger Patricio was denied of due process of law.
“His case was doomed right from the start as his accusers also acted as judges who handed down the judgment in the very case they filed against said plaintiff,” the court said.
A source said the group of Bartolome and Herrera will file a motion for reconsideration.
Former judge Patricio earlier questioned the proceeding against his grandson and Bartolome’s being the legal counsel for the complaining SK presidents.
Herrera, who led the proceedings, should have consulted the Department of Interior and Local Government on the matter and asked the opinion of Provincial Legal Office chief Jose Villanueva instead of getting the services of Bartolome, “a Bar flunker,” he said.
The disbarment case against the former judge is pending at the IBP.
Ex-judge Patricio is Bartolome’s law professor and wedding godfather.
