Supreme Court dismisses CA justice for interceding in drug case

For the first time in the 65-year history of the Court of Appeals (CA), the Supreme Court fired yesterday an appellate court justice for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct.

In a unanimous decision, the SC dismissed CA Justice Demetrio Demetria from the judicial service, stripped him of his benefits and perpetually barred him from holding public office.

The high tribunal found Demetria guilty of interceding in the case of suspected drug queen Yu Yuk Lai who was charged last year with possession of three kilos of shabu.

Demetria denied the charges, describing the evidence against him as "hearsay." He told ABS-CBN television that the female suspect was a victim of a "police frame-up."

He said he was undecided on whether to file an appeal.

Demetria was an undersecretary of the Department of Justice and once served as acting justice secretary before he was named to the appellate court.

"Through his indiscretions, Demetria did not only make a mockery of his high office, but also caused incalculable damage to the entire judiciary," the SC said in an 18-page decision.

"The mere mention of his name in the newspapers, allegedly lawyering for a suspected drug queen, seriously undermined the integrity of the judiciary," the SC ruled.

"There is simply no place in the judiciary for those who cannot meet the exacting standards of judicial conduct and integrity. Magistrates of justice must always be fair and impartial. They should avoid not only acts of impropriety, but all appearances of impropriety," it added.

According to case records, Demetria and Yu’s brother-in-law Go Teng Kok, a noted sports patron, went to the office of State Prosecutor Pablo Formaran III and asked him to "go slow" on Yu’s case.

Not contented, Demetria also phoned Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, a former subordinate, and told him to order Formaran to withdraw his motion asking Manila Judge Manuel Muro to inhibit himself from the case.

Muro was then handling Yu’s case, a non-bailable offense punishable by death. Despite her indictment on a capital offense, Yu was caught in the Casino Filipino at the Holiday Inn Manila playing baccarat.

No less than Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. directed both Muro and Demetria to submit their respective comments last year after learning of the case through news reports.

"The evidence is clear, if not overwhelming, and damning. His denial cannot stand against the positive assertions of Zuño and Formaran, which are consistent with natural human experience," the ruling said.

"The testimony of Zuño is plainly unambiguous and indubitably consistent with the other facts and circumstances surrounding the case. The timely telephone call to Zuño was thus a logical follow-up," the SC added.

The high tribunal gave no credence to Demetria’s claim that he merely went to Formaran’s office to visit old friends since he also admitted that that was the first time he met Formaran.

The meeting "could not have been accidental but pre-arranged," the ruling added.

"The circumstances only show that Demetria and Atty. Reinerio Paas, together with Go Teng Kok, did not go to the DOJ to see Secretary Artemio Tuquero but to visit, if not pressure, Zuño and Formaran," the SC said.

Formaran, for his part, said he was surprised to hear of Demetria’s dismissal and expressed sadness at the fate of the appellate court judge.

"It is very difficult to speak, especially if you became an instrument of the downfall of a person. But what can I do? That was what really happened, so be it," the soft-spoken prosecutor told The STAR in a telephone interview.

A DOJ official said the resolution of the administrative case now paves the way for the filing of criminal charges against Demetria and Go for obstruction of justice and violation of the anti-graft law.

The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act punishes as a corrupt practice persuading, inducing or influencing another public official to perform an act constituting a crime or violation of rules and regulations, the official explained.

"This is a very serious offense. They are defeating and obstructing the wheels of justice," the DOJ official said. — With Aurora Alambra