This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2014-09-30 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| Misconduct in office refers to any unlawful behavior by a public officer in relation to the duties of his office that is willful in character. The term embraces acts that the office holder had no right to perform, acts performed improperly, and failure to act in the face of an affirmative duty to act.[52] The Court has invariably imposed commensurate sanctions upon court employees found and declared to be violating Administrative Circular No. 5. The sanctions have depended on the gravity of the violations committed and on the careful consideration of the personal records of the employees concerned, like their prior administrative cases. For instance, a reprimand sufficed for a court stenographer who appeared as the representative of one of the complainants in a labor case pending in the National Labor Relations Commission;[53] a fine of P1,000.00 was imposed on a court aide who operated a sari-sari store in the court premises;[54] a P5,000.00 fine was prescribed on a process server in the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court for facilitating the bail bond of an accused in a pending case in one of the courts in the judicial station;[55] suspension for one month without pay became the penalty for a sheriff who had "moonlighted" as the administrator/trustee of a market outside of office hours in order to augment his meager salary;[56] suspension for six months without pay was the sanction on a court stenographer who had engaged in a pyramiding scheme, and who had solicited investments during office hours;[57] suspension for one month without pay was meted on a Clerk of Court of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities for engaging in the lending business;[58] and dismissal from the service with forfeiture of all the benefits due became the condign punishment for a clerk who had worked as part-time sales agent of an appliance center, and who had committed other offenses, specifically, the falsification of her daily time records and the infliction of physical injuries on the complainant in a public place under scandalous circumstances.[59] | |||||