DUMAGUETE CITY — After 31 long years of government service as a presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 34 in Negros Oriental, Judge Rosendo Bandal, Jr. finally rests his case on March 1 at the compulsory retirement age of 70 years old.
In his 31 years of service, Bandal has rendered more than 1,000 decisions of which only six or seven had been modified or set aside by the appellate court or the Supreme Court.
He was first assigned at the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines during the time of former strongman President Ferdinand E. Marcos for 12 years but was appointed by former President Corazon Aquino as presiding judge of RTC Branch 34.
Aside from being a pairing judge, Bandal also presided in five other RTCs, namely, Branches 30, 31, 35, 36 and 40, and is proud to say that he has no single administrative case in his career as a presiding judge.
Unlike other officers in government, Judge Bandal is on duty until the last day of which he is paid in office, which is February 28, 2018. In fact, his last promulgation was on February 17, 2018, where he sentenced three individuals who were accused in a drugs case.
Bandal received several threats in his life and attempts to bribe him in exchange for a favorable decision but he never allowed fear to dwell in his heart so as not to affect his decisions.
One of the threats came from a robbery suspect whom he convicted and the bribery attempt came from a Panamanian national who was facing a drugs case in his sala. He said that his best protection was to render fair and correct judgment that is understood by party litigants.
As a chess player, Judge Bandal is good in analyzing the moves of his opponent, plays chess in downtown without any bodyguard, confident that his decisions are fair.
He is among if not, the only presiding judge in Negros Oriental who has rendered a death sentence to an accused in a rape-slay case of a student near the Dumaguete Science High School several years back, but the said decision was reduced to life sentence by the Supreme Court.
And for that, he was tagged as a “hanging judge” while handling the first drugs court in the province.
Bandal was not comfortable with that impression, even with a high conviction rate of more than 90 percent, and so he requested then Chief Justice Hilario Davide to relieve him as presiding judge of the only drugs court then. As a result, Judge Ramon Bato, who became a justice of the Court of Appeals, was designated as drugs court judge.
Another attempt to bribe him was in connection with the frustrated murder case against a member of a well-known family in the city who is tagged as a serial killer. Somebody brought a title of land the location of which is fronting the capitol and another property in Batinguel, Dumaguete City, valued several years back at PHP4 million, but was offered to him at a selling price of only PHP700,000.
He was also asked to inhibit from a drugs case with a large sum of money because the accused who is a foreign national was also facing an annulment proceeding then in another court of which Bandal was the acting judge. In that proceeding, the wife testified that the accused was on drugs and so he was aware of the background.
Judge Bandal was also designated then as heinous crimes judge along with retired Judge Eleuterio Chiu.
“In my court, I don’t care whether you’re a mayor or somebody else. In fact, I convicted the former mayor of Tanjay City (Negros Oriental), Arturo Regalado, for violation of an election offense for transferring an employee in government while the election ban was enforced,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, more regional trial courts will be left vacant this year.
Judge Winston Villegas of RTC Branch 43 is retiring this April after reaching the compulsory retirement age along with Judge Fe Lualhati Bustamante and RTC Branch 30 Judge Rafael Crescencio Tan, Jr. Also, RTC Branch 36 Judge Joseph Elmaco is reportedly eyeing an optional retirement.
In an interview, Judge Bandal disclosed a number of incumbent judges are interested to take his place, one of whom is Judge Neciforo Enot who was then the stenographer, legal researcher, and clerk of court of Branch 34. Possible applicants include executive Judge Gerardo Paguio, Jr. and Judge Mary Rose Inocando Paras.
Judge Bandal has three lawyer-sons, namely, Ivan who is now with the solicitor general’s office, his position of which is equivalent to a municipal judge; Jason who is with the Public Attorney’s Office; and Michael, who prefers to be in private practice, being an incumbent city councilor of Dumaguete.
Both Ivan and Jason have expressed interest in applying as an RTC judge sometime in the future.
Bandal’s wish for his 70th birthday is to have a good replacement as presiding judge of RTC Branch 34. (Juancho Gallarde/PNA)
