G.R. No. A.M. No. P-03-1677 & A.M. No. P-07-2317; July 15, 2009
Liberty M. Toledo, Complainant, vs. Liza E. Perez, Court Stenographer III, Office of the Clerk of Court, Regional Trial Court, Manila, Respondent.

FACTS

Two corporations, NYK Fil-Japan Shipping Corporation and Total Distribution & Logistics Systems Incorporated, paid their respective business taxes to the Manila City Treasurer’s Office using manager’s checks payable to the City Treasurer. Employees of the City Treasurer issued fake receipts, and the checks were diverted to a fixer. The fixer gave the checks to Jesus Agustin, Jr., a friend of respondent Liza E. Perez, a Court Stenographer III at the Manila RTC. Agustin asked Perez to rediscount the checks. Perez agreed, deposited the checks into her personal Land Bank savings account, and the bank cleared them. The City Treasurer, Liberty Toledo, discovered the fraud and traced the checks to Perez’s account.
Toledo filed two administrative complaints against Perez for conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. Perez claimed she was an innocent victim, acting in good faith as the bank accepted the checks, and that the transaction was private and unrelated to her official duties. She resigned from her position in 2003 during the pendency of the investigation.

ISSUE

Whether respondent Liza E. Perez is guilty of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

RULING

Yes, the Supreme Court found Perez guilty. The Court rejected her defense of good faith and the private nature of the transaction. The legal logic centers on the stringent standard of integrity and propriety required of all judiciary personnel. The Court held that the act of rediscounting checks payable to the City Treasurer, which were clearly diverted from official government payments, constitutes conduct that undermines public trust in the judiciary. Even if done in a private capacity, such involvement in a dubious financial scheme reflects poorly on her integrity and judgment.
The Court emphasized that the conduct of court personnel, on or off duty, must be beyond reproach to preserve the judiciary’s dignity and the people’s faith in it. By participating in the encashment of these questionable checks, Perez allowed herself to be an instrument in a scam that implicated public funds, thereby dragging the name of the judiciary into disrepute. Her actions violated the norm of public accountability. Since she had already resigned, the Court imposed a fine of Forty Thousand Pesos (₱40,000.00) as the appropriate penalty.