449 Phil. 447
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
Pars. 3, 4 and 6, is likewise based on Circular No. 5-95 and the Indeterminate Sentence Law, Tiongco accusing undersigned again of ignorance of the same circular and the same law. Tiongco accuses undersigned of ignorance of the Indeterminate Sentence Law when the undersigned sentenced his client Ramil Mahilum to a penalty of imprisonment of two (2) years, four (4) months and one (1) day of prision coreccional in its minimum period to four (4) years and two (2) months as maximum. The penalty the undersigned imposed carries a minimum and a maximum period - instead of a single fixed penalty - which consist the essence of the Indeterminate Sentence Law. The period between the two being indeterminate in the sense that the prisoner may be exempted from serving said indeterminate period in whole or in part. (AQUINO, the Revised Penal Code, Vol. 1, 1976 Edition). With all his avowed legal omniscience, Tiongco shows that he has only a nodding acquaintance with the law which he sadly failed to recognize even in the dimly-lit recesses of his fast failing mind.The branch clerk of court of RTC, Branch 28, Iloilo City, who was directed to report on the status of People v. Baylon and People v. Sagutier, submitted its report to the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) which is echoed in its Report and Recommendation[19] on the present case as follows:
In par. 6, Tiongco laments of undersigned’s having his accused-client Ramil Mahilum served a penalty of five (5) months in excess of the two (2) years, four (4) months which his Honor, Judge Jose B. Tiongco insists should have been the penalty imposed on his client - instead of the penalty imposed by the undersigned embodied in the dispositive portion of the decision in the case. Despite his omniscience, Tiongco misses, confuses and mistakes the real from the illusory - betraying his being lost to a world devoid of color, a world where everything is gray, exposing him as one whose thoughts are not only dusky but murky - even in his most lucid interval.[18] (Underlining in the original)
Judge Pedronio already prepared and signed his decision in Criminal Case No. 48880 [People v. Baylon]. The decision was dated 27 January 2000. The promulgation was re-set a number of times, as follows:By the Report dated July 30, 2002, the OCA gives the following EVALUATION of the case:
29 February 2000 – reset to 13 March 2000 because counsel for the accused was not properly notified; 13 March 2000 – reset to 3 April 2000, Judge Pedronio was sick on leave; 3 April 2000 – reset to 15 May 2000 for failure of counsel for the accused to appear; 15 May 2000 – no promulgation done, no resetting; 24 Sept. 2001 – promulgation calendared for 30 October 2001; 30 Oct. 2001 – reset to 10 December 2001, as Judge Pedronio was sick on leave; 10 Dec. 2001 – Reset to 7 January 2002, since public prosecutor was on sick leave and counsel for the accused failed to appear;
On 7 January 2002, Judge Pedronio issued an order withholding the promulgation on the decision in Criminal Case No. 48880 citing the Court’s ruling in the Mabunay case. x x x
With regards to Criminal Case No. 44965, [People v. Sagutier], OIC Clerk of Court Cordero informed this Office that Judge Pedronio had already prepared his DRAFT decision on the case. The case was previously submitted for decision by Judge Rene Honrado and this was before the assumption of Judge Pedronio as presiding judge of RTC, Branch 28, Iloilo City. However, he issued a court order dated 6 March 2002 suspending the promulgation of the decision in the case citing again the Mabunay case. The records of Criminal Case No. 44965 were returned to Branch 29 presided over by Judge Honrado on 27 June 2002 upon the endorsement/directive of Executive Judge Tito Gustilo.[20]
Under Section 6, Rules 120 of the New Rules of Criminal Procedure judgment in criminal cases is promulgated by reading the same in the presence of the accused and any judge of the court in which it was rendered. To be valid and binding, any judgment or decision should be both penned and promulgated by the judge during his incumbency. When the full records of the case are available, a judge can pen the decision of the case submitted to him even if he did not hear the case in its entirety.The OCA accordingly recommends that respondent be ordered to promulgate the decision in People v. Baylon and that he be reprimanded for the delay in its promulgation and the improper application of the Mabunay ruling thereon.[22]
Records show that Criminal Cases Nos. 48880 [entitled People v. Baylon] and 44965 [entitled People v. Sagutier] were both submitted to Judge Rene Honrado for decision on 26 June 1999 and 14 January 2000, respectively, even before the respondent judge assumed office in RTC, Branch 28, Iloilo City. It is a well settled rule however that a judge who did not hear a case may write the decision therein based on the available records. Thus, when the respondent judge assumed office in RTC, Branch 28, Iloilo City, he was obligated to decide Criminal Cases Nos. 48880 and 44965 despite the fact that the cases were submitted for decision to the previous judge.
Complainant filed a motion to inhibit respondent judge from deciding Criminal Case No. 44965 but the latter in his court order dated 28 February 2000 denied the motion and submitted the case for his decision. According to the OIC Branch Clerk of Court, a DRAFT decision on the case had been prepared by the respondent judge. It was due for promulgation but was withheld by the respondent invoking the Court’s pronouncement in the Mabunay case (292 SCRA 694). Nonetheless, further court action on the case was overriden by the return of its records to RTC, Branch 29, Iloilo City, presided over by Judge Rene Honrado, the judge before whom it was previously submitted for decision, in compliance with the endorsement of Executive Judge Tito Gustilo.
With regards to Criminal Case No. 48880, respondent judge already had penned his decision in the case dated 27 January 2000. Its promulgation was initially scheduled on 29 February 2000 but respondent further reset the promulgation for a number of times either due to the absence of the respondent himself, the public prosecutor or the counsel for the accused. Subsequently, respondent judge in his court order dated 7 February 2002 held in abeyance the promulgation of decision in Criminal Case No. 48880, citing the Mabunay case. He informed the parties that if they so desire and upon their request, he could be required to decide the case.
This Office finds a misapplication by the respondent judge of the Mabunay ruling in the case at bar. The Court’s ruling refers to cases left behind by a judge and inherited by another judge who takes over the branch. The latter then assumes full responsibility over these inherited cases. He may decide them as they are his cases unless the parties move that the cases be decided by the judge who substantially heard the evidence and before whom the case was submitted for decision.
The respondent judge should have conducted an inventory of cases submitted for decision when he assumed office at RTC-Branch 28, Iloilo City. Thereafter, he should have decided the cases unless otherwise requested by the parties concerned.
Respondent had already penned his own decision in Criminal Case No. 48880. Evidently, he erred when he delayed the promulgation of his decision thereon citing the Mabunay ruling, as it was no longer appropriate under the circumstances. It is worthy to note that the misapplication of the respondent judge of the Mabunay ruling severely delayed the promulgation of the case. Aggravating the matter is the fact that the accused in Criminal Case No. 48880 is a detention prisoner.
On the charge that Judge Pedronio erred in the imposition of penalty under the Indeterminate Sentence Law, this Office has no authority to pass upon the issue, the same being judicial in nature. Complainant has other remedies in law that can rectify the alleged error. Settled is the rule that a judge may not be held administratively accountable for every erroneous order or decision he renders except if moved by malice, fraud, dishonesty, corruption or bad faith. No such malice was proved in the instant case.[21] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied; italics in the original)
Basically, a case once raffled to a branch belongs to that branch unless reraffled or otherwise transferred to another branch in accordance with established procedure. When the Presiding Judge of that branch to which a case has been raffled or assigned is transferred to another station, he leaves behind all cases he tried with the branch to which they belong. He does not take these cases with him even if he tried them and the same were submitted to him for decision. The judge who takes over his branch inherits all these cases and assumes full responsibility for them. He may decide them as they are his cases, unless any of the parties moves that his case be decided by the judge who substantially heard the evidence and before whom the case was submitted for decision.[10] Rollo at 10, 46.