Practice question
A complaint to the Ombudsman alleges that a judge falsified certificates of service by omitting cases supposedly overdue for decision. The judge produces Supreme Court extensions and says the unresolved question is how those extensions affect the certificates. The Supreme Court has not yet addressed that administrative issue. Under Maceda, which is best?
- The Ombudsman must resolve the Supreme Court's administrative records and extensions without referral
- The matter should first be referred to the Supreme Court for the relevant administrative determination; the judge is not thereby immune from criminal liability
- Every judge is permanently immune from prosecution
- The governor alone decides how court extensions operate
- Certificates of service are purely private papers with no judicial-administration significance
Legal references
- 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Section 6: https://lawphil.net/consti/cons1987.html
- Maceda v. Vasquez, G.R. No. 102781, April 22, 1993: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1993/apr1993/gr_102781_1993.html
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