THE Supreme Court reaffirmed the disbarment of a former Cebu City judge for grave misconduct.
In a press conference held last Tuesday in Manila, Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te confirmed the disbarment of Rosabella Tormis, former judge of Cebu City’s Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 4.
“Respondent (Tormis) abused her authority as a judge to make a mockery of marriage. Though committed when she was a judge, it taints her qualification to remain as a lawyer,” said Te, quoting the Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling comes after Tormis filed a motion for reconsideration to question the 2013 en banc decision of the Supreme Court, which ordered her dismissal from service.
The dismissal stemmed from the administrative cases that were filed against Tormis, along with three Cebu City MTCC judges Anatalio Necessario, Gil Acosta, and Edgemelo Rosales of MTCC Branches 2, 3, and 8 respectively.
The Office of the Court Administrator uncovered irregularities in the solemnization of marriages in local courts in Cebu.
It was found that all four judges had solemnized civil marriage rites despite insufficiency or absence of required papers, which the Supreme Court ruled as “gross inefficiency or neglect of duty and gross ignorance of the law.”
In the same en banc decision that ordered their dismissal from service, the Supreme Court also forfeited their retirement benefits and prohibited them from working in the government again. Cebu Daily News tried but was unable to contact Tormis.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
