A NEW family court judge has been named to handle the long-running Dengvaxia case after the inhibition of a Quezon City-Regional Trial Court, a court insider revealed on Friday.
The case was raffled off to Judge Roslyn Tria of QC-RTC Branch 86 after Branch 229 Judge Cleto Villacorta III decided to inhibit himself from further trying the second batch of 35 Dengvaxia cases.
The Manila Times was told that Tria had handled the case before, but she also inhibited because her husband, also a lawyer, was the counsel of two of the respondents of the case.
“If that’s the situation, chances are that Judge Tria would again inhibit herself to avoid a conflict of interest,” said the same court insider, a lawyer.
Thus, the panel of prosecutors is expected to formally file a motion of inhibition before Tria’s sala, the insider source told The Manila Times.
The Office of the Clerk of Court raffled off the case, and it was assigned to Tria after Villacorta, who earlier dismissed the first batch of eight cases “for lack of evidence,” recused himself following a motion filed by the prosecution panel led by City Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Irene Resurreccion-Medrano.
“With both my and prosecution’s subjective assessments, two subtests already favor the existence of just and valid grounds for the plea to recuse myself,” said Villacorta in his order.
Accusing Villacorta of being selective by not considering the evidence of the prosecution in its entirety when he dismissed the eight cases, whose principal accused is former health secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, the prosecutors said he could prejudge the outcome of the pending 35 cases, hence their motion to inhibit.
They said the evidence and arguments they would present would be the same as the first batch of eight cases Villacorta had dismissed, except for one case involving Dr. Mario Baquilod.
The prosecution panel said it would remain optimistic that it would finally have an opportunity to present its evidence before a magistrate “who is not only fair and impartial but who actually appears without any doubt to be fair and impartial.”
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