SC sacks judge in P50-b Ponzi scandal

By Rey E. Requejo

THE Supreme Court (SC) has suspended a South Cotabato Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge for two years without pay for issuing an order enjoining the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from implementing its cease and desist (CDO) order against the officers and agents of Kapa-Community Ministry International, Inc. (KAPA) that was allegedly involved in a P50billion Ponzi investment scheme.

In a decision written by Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr., the SC’s Second Division adopted the findings of the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) with certain modifications which found RTC Oscar Noel Jr. of General Santos City in South Cotabato, Branch 135 guilty of gross ignorance of the law, in connection with the case filed by KAPA seeking to enjoin SEC from implementing the CDO.

The SEC filed an administrative complaint for gross ignorance of the law against Noel who issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) and eventually a writ of preliminary injunction (WPI) in 2019 in favor of KAPA.

The SEC asserted that it is a co-equal body of RTC, thus, the latter cannot interfere with or overturn its ruling.

The SEC cited Section 179 of Republic Act 11232, otherwise known as the “Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines (RCCP) which provides that “no court below the Court of Appeals