DAY 03 – 26 JUNE 2019 – PM

LEGAL ETHICS

Mandatory vs. Voluntary Inhibition of Judges

G.R. No. L-44712, October 28, 1991.

People of the Philippines vs. Judge Leonardo Serrano

Disqualification of judges is governed by Rule 137 of the Rules of Court. Section 1 thereof reads:

SECTION 1. Disqualification of judges. — No judge or judicial officer shall

sit in any case in which he, or his wife or child, is pecuniarily interested as heir, legatee,
creditor or otherwise, or in which he is related to either party within the sixth degree of
consanguinity or affinity or to counsel within the fourth degree, computed according to
the rules of the civil law, or in which he was presided in any inferior court when his
ruling or decision is the subject of review, without the written consent of all parties in
interest, signed by them and entered upon the record.

A judge may, in the exercise of his sound discretion, disqualify himself from
sitting in a case, for just and valid reasons other than those mentioned above.

The first paragraph refers to mandatory disqualification and necessarily excludes the exercise of
discretion.(Mandatory) The second paragraph refers to permissive disqualification and leaves the matter
of disqualification to the sound discretion of the judge. (Voluntary)

It may be true that none of the grounds for mandatory disqualification appear to exist in the instant
case. Petitioner, however, claims that respondent Judge's "partiality and prejudgment would fall under
just and valid reasons under the second paragraph of the aforesaid Section 1 of Rule 137." Since
respondent Judge denied the motion to disqualify on that ground, the issue that necessarily crops up for
Our determination is whether or not a judge against whom none of the specific grounds for mandatory
inhibition exists and who refuses to voluntarily inhibit himself may, nevertheless, be disqualified from
sitting in or acting on a case. The issue is not one of first impression. A number of cases have firmly
established the affirmative view of this Court on the ground of due process. In Gutierrez vs. Santos, etc.,
et al., this Court held:

Petitioner invoking the provisions of section 1, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court,
argues that the case of the respondent judge does not fall under any one of the grounds
for the disqualification of judicial officers stated therein. Assuming arguendo that a
literal interpretation of the legal provision relied upon justifies petitioner's contention to
a certain degree, it should not be forgotten that, in construing and applying said legal
provision, we cannot disregard its true intention nor the real ground for the
disqualification of a judge or judicial officer, which is the impossibility of rendering an
impartial judgment upon the matter before him. It has been said, in fact, that due
process of law requires a hearing before an impartial and disinterested tribunal, and that
every litigant is entitled to nothing less than the cold neutrality of an impartial judge (30
Am. Jur. p. 767). Moreover, second only to the duty of rendering a just decision, is the
duty of doing it in a manner that will not arouse any suspicion as to its fairness and the
integrity of the Judge, Consequently, we take it to be the true intention of the law —
stated in general terms — that no judge shall preside in a case in which he is not wholly
free, disinterested, impartial and independent (30 Am. Jr. supra) x x x