Moslemen Macarambon has a poor track record as a judge in Mindanao—although he insists that it is his court experience that makes him an ‘asset’ to the Commission on Elections.

Newly appointed elections commissioner Moslemen Macarambon Sr. has a poor track record as a judge in the Lanao provinces, and his controversial decisions are likely to be raised once he is put through the Commission on Appointments wringer.

One case that Macarambon had handled put him in direct conflict with the Department of Justice, because he bypassed the special prosecutors that the department assigned to a controversial case that was pending in his sala.

Court documents show that Macarambon last year dropped charges of illegal possession of firearms against Mayor Aminola Mangurun of Kapai town and three of his bodyguards from the Philippine Marines. Mangurun is also facing separate murder charges for the killing of Army Capt. Sadat Tamano in 2005.

In July last year, the Marines caught the mayor and his bodyguards with four unlicensed guns at a checkpoint in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur.

The local police of Kapai, in an apparent attempt to cover up for their mayor, issued a fake memorandum receipt that was meant to prove that the police owned the firearms. The scheme was uncovered and prosecutors also filed charges of falsification of public documents and obstruction of justice against the Kapai police.

To avoid whitewash, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez appointed Manila-based state prosecutors Leo Dacera and Juan Pedro Navera as acting prosecutors in the case. They eventually filed appropriate charges against Mangurun, his bodyguards, and the local police before Judge Macarambon in Marawi City, where he served as acting judge last year.

In the course of the trial, however, Lanao del Sur provincial prosecutor Pacaambung Macabando moved for a reinvestigation of the cases, a motion that Macarambon readily granted.

The decision appeared questionable, since Macarambon was well aware of the department’s appointment of two special prosecutors to handle the case.

Besides, lawyers told Newsbreak, there was no basis for re-investigation. The Rules of Court say that a re-investigation can only be granted if the respondents were unable to participate in the preliminary investigation of the case. But records show that Mangurun and his co-respondents were able to participate in the preliminary investigation.

In his resolution submitted to Macarambon, provincial prosecutor Macabando reversed the findings of Dacera and Navera and sought for the dismissal of the cases.

Macarambon dropped the cases. In his decision, he quoted almost verbatim from the motion filed by the defense.

The Philippine National Police Intelligence Group, which acted as the main complainant, appealed Macabando’s resolution to Gonzalez. The justice chief issued a resolution ordering the reinstatement of the charges against Mangurun and company.

And only last September 5, the Supreme Court’s second division approved the transfer of the trial venue from Macarambon’s sala to Makati city.

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño sought the transfer as early as May but Macarambon and the respondents opposed this. The High Tribunal granted the change of venue, eventually, citing the need “to avoid a miscarriage of justice and to ensure the impartial prosecution of the case.”

According to a judge, the Tribunal’s decision gives a hint on the Court’s lack of confidence in Macarambon’s capacity to ensure fair trial.

This is not the first time that the Supreme Court ruled to transfer a case from Macarambon’s sala.

His Son’s Case

Previous reports show that in 1999, the High Tribunal castigated Macarambon for accommodating a case that was filed before him by his own son and over an incident involving the judge himself.

On January 27, 1999, Macarambon’s son, Sonny Ambrosi Macarambon, filed a civil action against Trans-Asia, which owned MV Asia-Brunei, after talks for an amicable settlement with the company failed.

Macarambon and his son Sonny boarded MV Asia-Brunei on Sept. 4, 1988, at the port of Cebu bound for Malabang, Lanao del Sur, where Macarambon was then serving as a judge. The two were not accommodated in the ship’s suite as this was already previously booked.

The judge got angry and threatened to bring the matter to court. “You know I am a judge. You should have accommodated me first,” court records quoted the elder Macarambon as telling the ship’s officers, who apologized for the inconvenience.

Court records show that the Macarambons had asked for damages totaling P250,000, which the company considered too big.

When the negotiations broke down, the younger Macarambon filed a case against Trans-Asia right before his father’s court.

In a decision by the SC ordering a transfer of the trial venue to Cagayan de Oro City, Clerk of Court Virginia Soriano said: “We ordered respondent judge to explain, within 10 days from receipt of notice, why he took cognizance of the civil case despite the fact that it involved his son Sonny Ambrosi Macarambon, and it arose out of an incident in which he was personally involved, as well as to comment on the report of petitioner regarding his unjudicial conduct in that incident.”

The Court said that rules disqualify a judge from sitting “in any case in which his child is pecuniarily interested or in which he is related to either party within the sixth degree of consanguinity.”

After taking his oath last Monday, Macarambon declared that “I will be an asset to the Comelec,” citing his experience as a judge for 18 years.

Macarambon is not known in judicial circles outside Lanao. His name was not even included in Malacañang’s shortlist of nominees submitted to incumbent Comelec officials for comment.

It remains unclear who his biggest backer was, but one Newsbreak source said that it was Lanao del Norte Rep.Abdullah Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte’s, a staunch ally of President Arroyo.

Macarambon carries the same surname as Renault “Boy” Macarambon’s, another poll official who is known to be a protégé of disgraced former poll commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

PHOTO CREDIT: Moslemen Macarambon Jr.'s blog

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