BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – The Supreme Court has dismissed from the service a trial court employee who was arrested in a buy-bust for selling shabu in 2019.
The high court’s en banc approved the recommendation of the Judicial Integrity Board (JIB) to remove Gerson Galan from his employment as utility worker of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 30 in Iloilo City after he was found guilty of gross misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Apart from dismissal from the service, the tribunal also ordered Galan to pay P150,000 and forfeited his retirement and other benefits, except accrued leave credits. He was also barred from working again in any government agency or instrumentality, including any government-owned and controlled corporation or government financial institution.
“As front liners in the administration of justice, court personnel should live up to the strictest standards of honesty and integrity in the public service, and in this light, are always expected to act in a manner free from reproach. Any conduct, act, or omission that may diminish the people’s faith in the Judiciary should not be tolerated,” read the Supreme Court decision.
The case stemmed from the administrative case filed by Executive Judge Victor Gelvezon informing the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) of the arrest of Galan for selling the prohibited drugs.
The Iloilo City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) operatives arrested Galan in a buy-bust operation on March 7, 2019.
The anti-narcotics agents carried out a buy-bust on Galan, which led to the arrest and confiscation of 0.1689 grams of shabu.
The police charged Galan with violating Section 5 of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Galan pleaded guilty to a lesser offense punishable under Section 12.7 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. He eventually resigned as a utility worker last Jan. 13, 2020.
In the decision, the tribunal stressed that Galan demonstrated “unlawful behavior and a manifest intent to violate the law in performing the criminal act that he was convicted of.”
“Further, the fact that he was an employee of a court necessarily tasked with the adjudication of drug-related cases, while himself being involved in criminal drug operations, adversely and gravely affected the image and integrity of the court to the general public, in which he was known to be an employee,” the SC ruled.
“The Court reminds Galan that the image of a court of justice is necessarily mirrored in the conduct, official or otherwise, of the men and women who work thereat, from the judge to the least and lowest of its personnel. Thus, it becomes the imperative sacred duty of everyone in the court to maintain its good name and standing as a true temple of justice,” it added./PN
