Office of the Court Administrator v.

Judge

Necessario

Due to an administrative case filed on July 6, 2007, the Office of the

Court Administrator
(OCA) formed a judicial audit team that investigated on irregularities in
the solemnization of
marriages in several MTCs and RTCs in Cebu. The head of the
audit team created went
undercover with another lawyer to see if the allegations were true that
there were fixers or
facilitators offering package fees to parties who would like to apply for
marriage. After their
interviews and investigation, the OCA recommended the dismissal of the
following judges and
court employees generally for gross neglect of duty due to the following
circumstances:

Judge Necessario - solemnized marriages with questionable documents even

where one of the
contracting parties (foreigner) submitted an affidavit instead of a certificate of legal
capacity from
his embassy; and under Art. 34 (one of the contracting parties was a minor during
cohabitation)
Judge Acosta – failed to make sure that solemnization fee has been paid and
also solemnized a
marriage under Art. 34
Judge Rosales – failed to make sure the solemnization fee has been paid and
solemnized marriage
between foreigner who only submitted an affidavit; also solemnized a
marriage without the
marriage license
Judge Tormis – solemnized marriages with questionable documents; failed
to make sure
solemnization fee has been paid; solemnized marriage between foreigner who
only submitted an
affidavit; solemnized marriage with expired marriage license.
Helen Monggaya – violated Sec. 2, Canon 1 of the Code of Conduct for
Court Personnel –
prohibition from soliciting any gifts and for giving false information for the purpose
of perpetrating
an irregular marriage
Rhona Rodriguez – violated Sec. 2, Canon 1 by participating in the collection
of an agreed upon
additional fee to process the documents, and in one case, received 4,000 pesos
to facilitate an
irregular marriage