MANILA, Philippines — A disgraced magistrate of the Sandiganbayan, who was sacked in 2014 for corruption in fixing an earlier criminal case of convicted plunderer Janet Lim Napoles, has won a reprieve from the Supreme Court.
In what it called “a measure of mercy,” the high tribunal partially granted the appeal for judicial clemency of dismissed Associate Justice Gregory Ong as it reinstated his retirement benefits and full pension as a former magistrate.
Voting unanimously, the court also lifted the perpetual ban from holding any government post that it meted out on Ong, a fraternity brother of President Duterte.
However, the court forfeited two-thirds of his lump-sum benefits as a penalty after Ong, 68, was found guilty of “gross misconduct, dishonesty and impropriety” in September 2014, becoming the first Sandigayan justice dismissed by the Supreme Court.
“Ong’s demonstration of remorse and reformation, along with his dire state, compels us to mitigate his penalty,” read a portion of the 12-page decision authored by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
“Here, Ong was remorseful in his conduct and has accepted the verdict laid down on him. In his plea, he professes that he respects and accepts the wisdom of the decision, and that he understood the gravity and consequences of his acts,” it said.
