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    Josefina Cruz-Arevalo vs. Judge Lydia-Layosa

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    PAC
    Judge Lydia-Layosa is accused of improperly excluding paragraphs from a witness affidavit and declaring a party non-suited due to their absence, despite having authorization to represent them. The Office of the Court Administrator found the accusations unmeritorious and recommended dismissing the case. The Supreme Court agrees, finding that Judge Layosa properly excluded irrelevant portions of the affidavit based on the defense's objections. No written order was needed for the rulings made during trial, which were reflected in the transcript. Acts of a judge made in their judicial capacity are not subject to disciplinary action unless fraud, dishonesty or corruption is proven, which did not occur in this case.

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    Josefina Cruz-Arevalo vs. Judge Lydia-Layosa

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    PAC
    27 views2 pages
    Judge Lydia-Layosa is accused of improperly excluding paragraphs from a witness affidavit and declaring a party non-suited due to their absence, despite having authorization to represent them. The Office of the Court Administrator found the accusations unmeritorious and recommended dismissing the case. The Supreme Court agrees, finding that Judge Layosa properly excluded irrelevant portions of the affidavit based on the defense's objections. No written order was needed for the rulings made during trial, which were reflected in the transcript. Acts of a judge made in their judicial capacity are not subject to disciplinary action unless fraud, dishonesty or corruption is proven, which did not occur in this case.

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    Judge Lydia-Layosa is accused of improperly excluding paragraphs from a witness affidavit and declaring a party non-suited due to their absence, despite having authorization to represent them. The Office of the Court Administrator found the accusations unmeritorious and recommended dismissing the case. The Supreme Court agrees, finding that Judge Layosa properly excluded irrelevant portions of the affidavit based on the defense's objections. No written order was needed for the rulings made during trial, which were reflected in the transcript. Acts of a judge made in their judicial capacity are not subject to disciplinary action unless fraud, dishonesty or corruption is proven, which did not occur in this case.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    27 views2 pages

    Josefina Cruz-Arevalo vs. Judge Lydia-Layosa

    Uploaded by

    PAC
    Judge Lydia-Layosa is accused of improperly excluding paragraphs from a witness affidavit and declaring a party non-suited due to their absence, despite having authorization to represent them. The Office of the Court Administrator found the accusations unmeritorious and recommended dismissing the case. The Supreme Court agrees, finding that Judge Layosa properly excluded irrelevant portions of the affidavit based on the defense's objections. No written order was needed for the rulings made during trial, which were reflected in the transcript. Acts of a judge made in their judicial capacity are not subject to disciplinary action unless fraud, dishonesty or corruption is proven, which did not occur in this case.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Josefina Cruz-Arevalo vs.

    Judge Lydia-Layosa
    FACTS:
    Josefina Cruz-Arevalo narrates that Conrado R. Cruz executed an
    authorization letter and a special power of attorney (SPA) in her favor to
    represent him in Civil Case while he undergoes medical treatment in the
    United States of America. Notwithstanding the presentation of the
    authorization letter and SPA during the pre-trial, Judge Lydia Layosa declared
    Cruz non-suited due to his absence. She also refused to issue an order to that
    effect thus depriving Cruz the right to challenge her order by way of petition for
    certiorari. Josefina Cruz-Arevalo also assails the order of judge Layosa to
    exclude several paragraphs in the Affidavit which was adopted as the direct
    testimony of her witness without giving her counsel a chance to comment on
    the objections raised by the defendants.
    As regards the exclusion of several paragraphs in the Affidavit
    constituting as the direct testimony of Atty. Cecilio Y. Arevalo, Jr., Judge Lydia-
    Layosa points out that she gave the other party the chance to go over the
    affidavit and make objections thereto like any direct testimonial evidence. She
    claims that no written order is necessary as demanded by complainant's
    counsel because her rulings were made in open court during the course of trial
    and are already reflected in the transcript of the stenographic notes.
    The Office of the Court Administrator finds Josefina Cruz-Arevalo’s
    accusations unmeritorious and recommended the dismissal of the case.
    ISSUE:
    Whether or not OCA is correct in its position
    RULING:
    YES. As regards the exclusion of certain paragraphs in the affidavit of
    complainant's witness, the rule is that evidence formally offered by a party may
    be admitted or excluded by the court. If a party's offered documentary or object
    evidence is excluded, he may move or request that it be attached to form part
    of the record of the case. If the excluded evidence is oral, he may state for the
    record the name and other personal circumstances of the witness and the
    substance of the proposed testimony. These procedures are known as offer of
    proof or tender of excluded evidence and are made for purposes of appeal. If an
    adverse judgment is eventually rendered against the offeror, he may in his
    appeal assign as error the rejection of the excluded evidence. The appellate
    court will better understand and appreciate the assignment of error if the
    evidence involved is included in the record of the case.
    On the other hand, the ruling on an objection must be given immediately
    after an objection is made, as what respondent judge did, unless the court
    desires to take a reasonable time to inform itself on the question presented; but
    the ruling shall always be made during the trial and at such time as will give
    the party against whom it is made an opportunity to meet the situations
    presented by the ruling. Judge Layosa correctly ordered the striking out of
    portions in Atty. Arevalo's affidavit which are incompetent, irrelevant, or
    otherwise improper. Objections based on irrelevancy and immateriality need
    no specification or explanation. Relevancy or materiality of evidence is a matter
    of logic, since it is determined simply by ascertaining its logical connection to a
    fact in issue in the case. 
    In this present case, there is nothing irregular when Judge Layosa did
    not issue an order to reflect the objections of the defense counsel to each of the
    allegations in the sworn affidavit which was adopted as the direct testimony of
    complainant's counsel as the court's rulings thereto were made during the
    trial. As pointed out by Judge Layosa these matters are already reflected in the
    transcript of stenographic notes and are not subject to written order. Orders
    resolving motions for continuance made in the presence of the adverse party,
    or those made in the course of a hearing or trial, may properly be made orally.
    Moreover, the acts of a judge in his/her judicial capacity are not subject to
    disciplinary action even though erroneous in the absence of fraud, dishonesty
    or corruption which complainant failed to prove in the instant case.

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