Case Digest: JUANITO AGULAN JR. v. TERESITA S. ESTEBAN

JUANITO AGULAN JR. v. TERESITA S. ESTEBAN

          Petitioner Juanito Agulan Jr, filed a complaint of Grave Misconduct and Dishonesty against respondent Teresita Esteban in her capacity as Clerk of Court II of the 2nd Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Nueva Ecija. Esteban allegedly issued an invalid release order copy pursuant to a cash bond allegedly posted by a ceratin Jesus Agulan.

          Executive Judge Johnson L. Ballutay of the Cabantuan City Regional Trial Court recommended that Esteban be suspended from service for 3 months without pay. However, the Office of Court Administration (OCA) modified the penalty to a fine of P 1,000.00.

ISSUE:

Whether or not Esteban is guilty of Grave Misconduct and Dishonesty

HELD:

A clerk of court who is directly responsible for all court collections, should have custody of official receipts or at least have direct access to the place where they are kept. In Esteban‘s case, she admittedly received the cash bond on a Sunday, August 8, 1999, but that as the key to the office was in the custody of the court aide, she issued the receipt only the following day, August 9, 1999, a Monday.

Why Esteban, a clerk of court, did not herself have a key to the court office or exert effort to contact the court aide who, like her, was residing in General Natividad, speaks of her irresponsibility or negligence.

It bears emphasis that the issuance of official receipt for any collections made by any government office, whether fiduciary or accruing to the government, is required to insure that funds are properly accounted for, not to mention that it is necessity in order to avoid the risk of losing or misappropriating them.

That no prejudice was caused to the government or any party due to Esteban‘s delay in issuing the receipt does not exempt her from administrative liability. The Court does not countenance any conduct, act or omission on the part of all those involved in the administration of justice which violates the norm of public accountability and diminishes or even just tends to diminish the faith of the people in the judiciary.