The Supreme Court has fined the judge of the Municipal Trial Court of Sta. Catalina, Oriental Negros, for gross ignorance of the law and procedure, and sternly warned him that a repetition of the act will be dealt with more severely.

In its decision dated Jan. 23, 2006 penned by Associate Justice Carpio-Morales, the SC, sitting en banc, determined that Judge Rogaciano Rivera of the Sta. Catalina MTC was remiss in the performance of his duties when he not only allowed the cross-examination of the parties during the conduct of preliminary investigation, but also failed to resolve the criminal complaints within the period mandated by law.

Court records showed that the High Tribunal approved the Feb. 14, 2005 recommendation of the Office of the Court Administrator imposing P21,000 in fine against Rivera for allowing the cross examination of the parties -- including a witness who was a minor, who, in the course of her testimony on the rape and forcible abduction rape charges filed May 30, 2003 against a Sta. Catalina resident - was subjected to humiliation as all those present, were laughing.

It said that in cases involving minors, the Rule on Execution of a Child Witness provides that, "When a child testifies, the court may, on its own, order the exclusion from the courtroom of all persons who do not have a direct interest in the case; the court should consider the developmental level of the child."

The Supreme Court also ruled that Rivera also erred when he decided on the cases two and a half months after they were filed, and not within the 10-day period prescribed by law. "Judges owe it to the public to be knowledgeable, hence, they are expected to have more than just a modicum of acquaintance with the statutes and procedural rules," the decision said.

It added: "When the law is so elementary, not to know it or to act as if one does not know it constitutes gross ignorance of the law, the mainspring of injustice."

The Supreme Court ruled that a copy of its decision be entered in Rivera's personal record, the decision further said.*

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