Female sheriff fined for receiving cash from litigant
The Supreme Court en banc slapped a fine on a former court sheriff after she was found guilty of gross misconduct.
Daily TribuneThe Supreme Court en banc slapped a fine on a former court sheriff after she was found guilty of gross misconduct.
Ma. Consuelo Joie Almeda-Fajardo, former Sheriff IV of the Regional Trial Court in San Pedro, Laguna, was found guilty of one count of gross misconduct for violation of the Code of Conduct for Court Personnel and one count of serious dishonesty for demanding and receiving money from a litigant for sheriff's expenses without complying with the procedure prescribed in Section 10, Rule 141 of the Rules of Court.
Under Section 10, expenses for the execution of writs shall be paid by the interested party based on estimates by the sheriff and subject to the court's approval.
Upon approval of the estimates, the party must deposit the amount with the clerk of court, who shall disburse it to the sheriff. The sheriff must liquidate the amount within the same period of filing the return before the court.
Instead of observing the procedure, Fajardo directly demanded and received money from a litigant to defray the expenses incurred for implementing a writ of execution without the court's imprimatur.
Fajardo also failed to liquidate the amount she had received.
The Supreme Court said the rules on sheriff's expenses demand strict compliance as any circumvention opens the door not only to suspicion of but actual corruption.
A sheriff unilaterally demanding money from a party without observing the proper procedure falls short of the required standards of public service and threatens the very existence of the system of administration of justice, the SC said.
It likewise found Fajardo guilty of one count of gross misconduct constituting a violation of the Code of Conduct for Court Personnel for releasing an impounded vehicle despite the absence of an affidavit supporting the purported third-party claim as required under Section 16, Rule 39 of the Rules of Court or the court's order.