This is an administrative case against Felipe Santa Juana, Justice of the Peace of Santo Nino, Samar, who is charged with immorality, it being alleged that he, a married man, maintains amorous relations with a married woman, with whom he has six children.

The evidence presented by the complainant shows that the respondent ™s illicit relations with his alleged mistress are a matter of public knowledge in the community which has been scandalized by the frequent brawls between said woman and the respondent ™s wife. It appears of record that the respondent was the informant in the certificate of birth issued for four of the illegitimate children of the woman involved, and that three of them were registered with his surname in the elementary school of Santo Ni o. There was also presented in evidence a group picture taken of the respondent together with said woman and her six illegitimate children.

The foregoing evidence cannot be overcome by the mere denial made by the respondent of the charge against him. The woman involved testified as a witness for the respondent and declared that her relations with the respondent were purely platonic; that she had registered her last four children as illegitimate to spite her husband who had separated from her; and that if she had enrolled her three oldest children in school with the respondent ™s surname, it was because she wanted them to follow the footsteps of the respondent as a model citizen. This testimony is entirely unworthy of credit as too far-fetched and improbable. I find from the facts proven that the respondent has been maintaining illicit relations with a mistress with public scandal.

I have time and again stated that the Government cannot compromise with the commission of immorality by members of the bench. As important as the intellectual caliber of judges, if not more, is their standard of morality and integrity. An upright judge may commit honest mistakes in his official acts without losing the confidence of litigants and without injury to the regard of the people for the courts of justice, but a judge whose morality and uprightness are low in the public esteem inspires no respect for the integrity of his decisions and thus gives cause to the people to lose their confidence in the administration of justice.

In view of the foregoing, and in accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of Justice, the respondent Felipe Santa Juana, Justice of the Peace of Santo Ni o, Province of Samar, is hereby removed from office effective immediately.

Done at the City of Manila, this 9th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty-one, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the seventh.


By the President:

(Sgd.) JORGE B. VARGAS
Secretary to the President