503 Phil. 678
SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J.:
CLERK OF COURT GENERAL FUND | ||
| ||
| Total collections for the period July 1994 to May 31, 2003 | P235,443.40 |
| Less: Total deposits for the same period | P233,708.00 |
| SHORTAGE | P1,735.40 |
| | |
JUDICIARY DEVELOPMENT FUND | ||
| ||
| Total collections for the period March 1985 to May 31, 2003 | P341,240.20 |
| Less: Total deposits for the same period P338,790.58 | P338,708.14 |
| Less: Over-remittance of interest P82.44 | P338,708.14 |
| SHORTAGE | |
| P2,532.06 | |
FIDUCIARY FUND | ||
| ||
| Total collections for the period August 1993 to May 31, 2003 | P941,561.00 |
| Less: Total withdrawals for the same period | P628,200.00 |
| Total | P313,361.00 |
| Less: Balance per bank as of May 26, 2003 | P277,034.04 |
| | |
BALANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY | P36,326.96 | |
| 1,735.40 | |
| 2,532.06 | |
| P40,594.42 |
(a) DIRECT the Financial Management Office, OCA toIn her comment[4] dated October 7, 2004, Garrovillas requested that her accountabilities in the total amount of P40,592.42, as well as the P5,000.00 fine imposed upon her, be deducted from her terminal leave benefit.(i) DEDUCT from the terminal leave pay of Mrs. Adelina R. Garrovillas, Former Clerk of Court, MCTC, Teresa-Baras, Rizal, the amount of Forty thousand Five hundred Ninety-four Pesos and Forty-two Centavos (P40,594.42) from the money value of her terminal leave, subject to refund upon the proper presentation of the documents to the Fiscal Monitoring Division (FMD), OCA, that the said amount has been remitted;(b) DIRECT THE Clerk of Court/Officer-in-Charge of MCTC, Teresa-Baras, Rizal to furnish the FMD-CMO-OCA with machine validated deposit slips as proof that the amount deducted from the terminal leave pay of Mrs. Garrovillas was transferred to the respective accounts with five (5) days after receipt of the checks from the Checks Disbursement Division-FMO-OCA;
(ii) DEPOSIT the said amount to the following accounts:
Fiduciary Fund P36,326.96 Judiciary Development Fund P 2,532.06 Clerk of Court General Fund P 1,735.40 Total P40,594.42
and (iii) COORDINATE with the Fiscal Monitoring Division, Court Management Office, OCA, before releasing the checks to the acting Clerk of Court of MCTC, Teresa-Baras, Rizal, so that the latter could make the corresponding communication to the said Clerk of Court;
(c) Impose upon Mrs. Garovillas a FINE of Five Thousand Pesos (P5,000.00) for the delayed remittance of her collections depriving the government of interest earned if the same were deposited on time, and direct the Financial Management Office, OCA, to DEDUCT the said amount from her terminal leave pay;
(d) DOCKET the report on the financial audit on the books of accounts Ms. Adelina R. Garovillas, Former Clerk of Court, MCTC, Teresa-Baras, Rizal, as a regular administrative matter, A.M. No. P-04-1894 (Office of the Court Administrator vs. Ms. Adelina R. Garovillas, former Clerk of Court, MCTC,Teresa-Baras, Rizal; and
(e) require Ms. Adelina R. Garovillas, Former Clerk of Court, MCTC, Teresa-Baras, Rizal, to COMMENT on the aforesaid report within ten (10) days from notice hereof."
"Ms. Garrovillas violated Administrative Circular No. 3-2000 (Guidelines in the Allocation of the Legal fees Collected Under Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, As Amended, Between the General Fund and the Judiciary Development Fund) which provides:We agree with the findings and recommendation of Court Administrator Velasco.
xxx xxx xxx"3. Duty of the Clerks of Court, Officers-in-Charge or accountable officers. "
The Clerks of Court, Officers-in-Charge of the Office of the Clerk of Courts, or their accountable duly authorized representatives designated by them in writing, who must be accountable officers, shall receive the Judiciary Development Fund collections, issue the proper receipt therefore, maintain a separate cash book properly marked CASH BOOK FOR JUDICIARY DEVELOPMENT FUND, deposit such collections in the manner herein prescribed, and render the proper Monthly Report of Collections for said fund.xxx xxx xxx
3. Systems and Procedures:
xxx xxx xxx
(c) In the RTC, SDC, MeTC, MCTC and SCC. - The daily collections for the Fund in these courts shall be deposited everyday with the local or nearest LBP branch for the account of the Judiciary Development Fund, Supreme Court, Manila - SAVINGS ACCOUNT NO. 0591-0116-34; or if depositing daily is not possible, deposits for the Fund shall be at the end of every month, provided, however, that whenever the collections for the Fund shall reach P500.00, the same shall be deposited immediately even before the days above-indicated:xxx xxx xxx
Collections shall not be used for encashments of personal checks, salary checks, etc. Only Cash, Cashier's Check and Manager's Check are acceptable payments.' (emphasis supplied)xxx xxx xxx
Correlatively, she also violated Circular No. 50-95 (11 October 1995) which mandates that "all collections from bailbonds, rental deposits and other fiduciary collections shall be deposited within twenty four (24) hours by the Clerk of Court concerned, upon receipt thereof.
xxx xxx xxx
Indeed, the delayed and the consequent non-remittance of the court's collection by Ms. Garrovillas were unjustifiable. In Mallare vs. Ferry, it was held that unjustifiable delay in remitting collections constitutes grave misfeasance, if not malversion of funds. Likewise, Lirios vs. Oliveros (253 SCRA 258) and Re: Report on Audit and Physical Inventory of the Records of Cases in MTC of PeƱaranda, Nueva Ecija (319 SCRA 507) held that the unreasonable delay in the remittance of fiduciary funds constitutes serious misconduct.
For humanitarian considerations and since this is the only administrative infraction committed by Ms. Garrovillas in her thirty-one years in service, the penalty of fine should be imposed against her.
In view of the foregoing, we respectfully submit for the consideration of the Honorable Court that a FINE of P5,000.00 be imposed against Ms. Adelina R. Garrovillas, former Clerk of Court, MCTC-Barras, Rizal for serious misconduct to be deducted from her terminal leave benefit."
"xxx Clerks of Courts are the chief administrative officers of their respective courts; with regard to the collection of legal fees, they perform a delicate function as judicial officers entrusted with the correct and effective implementation of regulations thereon. Even the undue delay in the remittances of amounts collected by them at the very least constitutes misfeasance. On the otherhand, a vital administrative function of a judge is the effective management of his court and this includes control of the conduct of the court's ministerial officers. It should be brought home to both that the safekeeping of funds and collections is essential to the goal of an orderly administration of justice and no protestation of good faith can override the mandatory nature of the Circulars designed to promote full accountability for government funds."As Clerk of Court, Garrovillas is an accountable officer entrusted with the great responsibility of collecting money belonging to the funds of the court. She admitted that she used the money collected to encash the checks of her co-employees and failed to remit her cash collections constituting public funds. Clearly, she violated the trust reposed in her as disbursement officer of the judiciary. Thus, she is liable for the shortages mentioned above.
1st Offense - Dismissal
1st Offense - Dismissal
1st Offense - Dismissal"