Supreme Court scolds judge who’s now a solon

Talk about judicial suspense.

The legislative and the judiciary may be two equal branches of government, but not always in the eyes of the Supreme Court.

Yesterday the high tribunal chastised Sulu first district Rep. Hussin Amin, a former Jolo regional trial court judge, for leaving two criminal cases in his sala unresolved before running in last year’s May general elections.

"He cannot leave solely to his staff the responsibility for the management of cases," the Supreme Court stated in a six-page resolution. "Amin is admonished to be more careful in the discharge of his official functions."

Amin reasoned out that most of his time was devoted to the campaign after he resigned as jurist, which, he said, even had the clearance of his staff. He thought he left no case undecided.

Not so, said the Supreme Court. "As judge, he should know more than anyone else the status of his cases," it said. Under the law, judges are required to decide criminal cases in 90 days.

Court cases that are left undecided would be left to the replacement judge to resolve them.

The Office of the Court Administrator, which supervises courts across the country, discovered that even during Amin’s tenure as judge, he once had 69 criminal cases and 17 civil cases pending.

"The court accepts this explanation in extenuation of Amin’s responsibility as judge. Needless to say, by this we do not mean to say that judicial duties should be sacrificed for the pursuit of elective office," the Supreme Court declared.

However, the high tribunal decided to admonish Amin instead of imposing a fine "so that in case he would return to the judiciary, he would be more circumspect in fulfilling his duties."