Problem Areas in Legal Ethics 3F

2021-2022
Module _: Topic
CASE TITLE In re: Flordeliza G.R. NO. 44 PHIL 608

PONENTE MALCOLM, J. DATE March 12, 1923

DOCTRINE “The judge must cultivate a capacity for quick decision. Habits of indecision must be
sedulously overcome. He must not delay by slothfulness of mind or body the judgment to
which a party is entitled." (One of the proposed canons for a decalogue for the judiciary.)
FACTS Six lawyers from Sorsogon filed a petition before the SC for the removal from office of
Judge Tomas Flordeliza, Judge of First Instance of the 16th Judicial District. The charges
laid against the respondent Judge are, in general:
(1) That on different occasions the respondent certified falsely as to the status of the
cases pending decision before him, in violation of section 129 of the Administrative
Code;
(2) that the respondent is guilty of delay and lack of diligence in the disposition of the
cases pending before him, in violation of section 165 of the Administrative Code,
and generally accepted principles which determine judicial standards; and
(3) that the respondents is guilty of partiality in the performance of his official duties.

In his answer, the respondent judge said that the time taken by stenographers in
transcribing their notes should not be counted in the computation of the ninety-day period.
He also contended that the vacation period should be excluded and that the period should
begin to run from the date the clerk reported the case for decision. Lastly, his construction
of the law is that an oral decision is sufficient.

ISSUE/S Whether or not respondent judge is liable administratively

RULING/S YES. The law requires that before leave shall be granted or salary shall be paid to any
judge or auxiliary judge of first instance, he shall make a certificate that all cases and
proceedings which have been under submission for determination or decision for a period
of ninety days or more have been determined and decided on or before the date of making
the certificate. The key words, needing construction, are "determined and decided."

"Determine," it has been said, does not mean more than tried. "Decided" or "decide,"
according to the lexicographers, is defined as "to form a definite opinion," "to render
judgment." In this jurisdiction, upon the trial of a question of fact, the decision of the court
must be given in writing and filed with the clerk.

The meaning given to section 129 of the Administrative Code by the respondent Judge
would result in qualifying the law where no such qualifications were intended. With special
reference to the answer of the respondent Judge, the SC stated that the vacation
months should not be excluded in the computation of the ninety-day period
prescribed by law, that the time should begin to run from the submission of the
case, without awaiting notification from the clerk of court, and that an oral decision
is not sufficient. As to the point that the time taken by a stenographer to transcribe his
notes should not be taken into consideration, no hard and fast rule can be laid down. The
general rule would be to conform with the intent of the law and thus not to permit decisions
to be delayed for this reason, but conceivably special circumstances may arise, which

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 Problem Areas in Legal Ethics 3F
2021-2022
cannot now be imagined, which would force the trial judge to await the transcription of the
stenographer's notes for long periods of time; when they do the judge should so state.

In conclusion, the SC has decided to pay no particular attention to the general charges of
partiality and negligence which have been filed against Judge Flordeliza. However, the SC
concluded that he has not displayed that interest in his office which stops not at the
minimum of the day's labors fixed by law, and which ceases not at the expiration of official
sessions, but which proceeds diligently on holidays and by artificial light and even into
vacation periods. Only thus can he do his part in the great work of speeding up the
administration of justice and of rehabilitating the judiciary in the estimation of the people.
The mountain of six or seven hundred pending cases in Sorsogon could be removed by a
judge of first instance of alert mind and quick decision, not afraid of work, with the aid of a
helpful bar and a sympathetic government.

The SC corrected Judge of First Instance Tomas Flordeliza in his wrong construction of
section 129 of the Administrative Code, and admonished him to proceed more assiduously
in the performance of his judicial labors.

ZATARAIN