The Supreme Court (SC) has placed a Pasay City judge and an acting branch clerk of court under preventive suspension for alleged bribery pending the outcome of the investigation to be conducted by the SC’s Judicial Integrity Board.
In an en banc resolution, the SC initiated administrative proceedings against Judge Alberto T. Cansino and Officer-in-Charge/Acting Branch Clerk of Court Mariejoy P. Lagman, both of Pasay City Regional Trial Court, Branch 108, for allegedly accepting P6 million from a litigant in exchange for a favorable judgment in a civil case.
To enable the JIB to conduct an unhampered formal investigation, the high court ordered Judge Cansino and OIC-Acting BCC Lagman be preventively suspended for 90 days.
Following an entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation that led to the arrest of Lagman, the SC ordered Court Administrator Raul Villanueva on May 24, 2024 to submit a report on the incident.
According to Court Administrator Villanueva, the operation was prompted by an anonymous complaint the JIB received via email.
After the NBI verified the information, the entrapment operation was set using five marked One Thousand Peso bills and about P6 milliopn in boodle money.
In addition to the money, a copy of the Order bearing the signature of the Judge on the civil case was also confiscated.
The report also stated that both the Judge and court employee are now the subject of criminal investigations before the Department of Justice.
