TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: Third judge shuns PECO expro case

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

Another judge has opted to stay away from the controversial expropriation case filed by MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) against Panay Electric Co. (PECO) in its attempt to take over power distribution services in Iloilo City.

In an order issued on Jan 24, 2020, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 33 Presiding Judge Ma. Theresa Enriquez-Gaspar distanced herself from the case on the ground that she has close ties with the owners of the defendant, PECO.

“Owners of PECO, Mr. Jose Mari Cacho and Sandra Cacho are very close friends of the undersigned since they are members of an organization called ‘Beyond I Do’ wherein its regular meetings are usually held in the house of Mr. Cacho,” Judge Gaspar said.

Gaspar added that Dr. Diane Cacho, the wife of Mr. Jose Mari Cacho, is also her endocrinologist.

The presiding judge also cited that the clerk in charge of civil cases in RTC Branch 33 is affiliated with the department head of MORE Power.

“The head of the PDM-Substation Project Development and Management Department of MORE, Mr. Wilmar J. Gonzaludo, is the husband of the clerk in charge of civil cases in this Court, Ma. Wienna Gonzaludo,” she said.

Gaspar is the third judge to inhibit from the MORE Power-PECO expropriation case.

Following Judge Gaspar’s inhibition, the RTC Clerk of Court re-raffled the expropriation case on Monday and was assigned to RTC Branch 29 Presiding Judge Gloria Madero.

Last January 15, RTC Branch 35 Presiding Judge Daniel Antonio Gerardo Amular inhibited from the case after seeking advice from RTC Executive Judge Victor Gelvezon.

“Notwithstanding that the Presiding Judge performs his duties in accordance with the conscientious dictate of his conscience and the applicable provisions of law, it has come to a point that whatever judgment the Presiding Judge would render in the case would not be accepted by either the plaintiff or the defendant or maybe tainted with bias,” Amular said.

Amular was the same judge who suggested the transfer of expropriation outside of Iloilo, describing the case to become “too politicized”.

The expropriation case was first assigned to the sala of RTC Branch 37 Judge Yvette Marie Go where she also inhibited from the case after granting MORE Power’s writ of possession.

It was then re-raffled to Judge Amular.

MORE Power, which was granted the franchise for power distribution in Iloilo under Republic Act (RA) 11212, filed the expropriation case on March 11 pursuant to its exercise of the power of eminent domain contained in the law.