MANILA, Philippines For taking liberties with the courts funds and repeatedly

violating the code of judicial conduct, a Nueva Vizcaya Judge got the boot from the
Supreme Court, losing all his benefits after 22 years of judiciary service.
The high court on Tuesday found Nueva Vizcaya Municipal Trial Court (MTC)
Acting Presiding Judge Alexander Balut guilty of gross misconduct, dismissing him
from the service for borrowing money from court collections.
Judge Baluts conduct fell short of the standard required of judges, which is that they
must adhere to the highest tenets of judicial conduct. Because of the sensitivity of his
position, a judge is required to exhibit, at all times, the highest degree of honesty and
integrity and to observe exacting standards of morality, decency and competence,
said the high court.
All 13 magistrates present in the full-court session found him guilty of the
administrative offense, with eight voting to remove him from the judiciary and the
remaining five for a lesser penalty.
The dismissal order, which, the high court said, would take immediate effect, came
with the forfeiture of all retirement benefits and with prejudice to re-employment in
any branch of the government, including government-owned and controlled
corporations.
After more than two decades of service, Balut is left with the money value of accrued
earned leave credits.
Judge Balut is hereby ordered to cease and desist immediately from rendering any
order or decision, or from continuing any proceedings, in any case whatsoever,
effective upon receipt of a copy of this resolution, said the Supreme Court in the
dispositive part of its ruling.
The high court has had it with Balut for several infractions: before his most recent
folly, the judge had been found guilty of sitting on the job, committing undue delay
in deciding cases within the prescribed time period as the Acting Presiding Judge for
MTCs in the towns of Bayombong and Solano.
The offense that cost him the job was Baluts repeated withdrawals of cash from the
courts collections, totalling P202,774.42 as of April 2002.
Judge Balut knowingly and deliberately made his clerks of court violate circulars on
proper administration of court funds; his act of misappropriating court funds
constitutes dishonesty and grave misconduct punishable by dismissal from the service
even on the first offense, said the high court.
Neither Baluts settlement of the amount nor his tenure in the judiciary could save him
from the penalty, said the court.
That Judge Balut fully paid his cash liabilities does not free him from the
consequences of his wrongdoings. His unwarranted interference in the court
collections deserves sanction and not even his full payment of his accountabilities will
exempt him from liability, said the Supreme Court.

Neither will his long tenure (22 years of service) mitigate his liability; his offense
was not a single or isolated act but a series of acts committed in a span of several
years. He was a repeat offender, perpetrating his misdeeds with impunity not once, not
twice but several times in three different stations, the high court said.

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/699164/sc-dismisses-nuevavizcaya-judge-who-borrowed-from-court-collections#ixzz3dKIelw4P

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