By Rey E. Requejo

THE Supreme Court has fined a retired judge P40,000 for granting bail to five Chinese nationals arrested for manufacturing shabu in 2001. The suspects disappeared after posting bail.

In its decision, the justices upheld a Court of Appeals ruling against retired Judge Rodrigo B. Lorenzo of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court, Branch 266.

The Supreme Court said Lorenzo’s retirement did not make his case moot or release him from any liability incurred when he was still in the service.

The justices dismissed Lorenzo’s argument that he allowed the suspects to post bail because the substances found during the raid on their makeshift laboratory in Capitolyo village, Pasig City, had not yet been examined and determined to be shabu.

Lorenzo claimed that forensic chemist Police Insp. Vivian Sumobay also failed to appear in the hearings to confirm that the seized substances were indeed shabu.

Because the presumptive innocence of the accused was not overturned, he found no reason to further detain them, Lorenzo said.

But the Supreme Court noted that the substances seized were in fact five kilograms of shabu, and that Sumobay never received a subpoena.

A bench warrant for Sumobay also never reached her.

The justices also found Lorenzo liable for denying the prosecution the opportunity to present evidence to oppose the petition for bail despite two more hearings set for that purpose.

The court said Lorenzo’s acts violated Canon 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which says “a judge should perform official duties honestly and with impartiality and diligence.”

“While there is no evidence tending to show that he perverted his office for a consideration... respondent judge... did not conduct himself with professional competence required by the code,” the justices said.

Denying the prosecution the chance to oppose the bail petition raised suspicions about the judge’s partiality, the court added.