THE Supreme Court has dismissed a Makati court clerk for stealing P277,000 worth of court collections.
In a decision dated June 27, the Court en banc found Charlibeth P. Sicad guilty of gross misconduct, serious dishonesty and commission of a crime involving moral turpitude.
The en banc ordered the forfeiture of Sicad’s benefits and privileges, except accrued leave credits, and perpetually banned her from working in the government, including in government-owned or controlled corporations.
“Every employee of the Judiciary should be an example of integrity, uprightness, and honesty,” the SC said, adding that Sicad fell short of the exacting standards of judicial conduct and integrity.
It said that “conduct which violates the norms of public accountability and diminish, or even tend to diminish, the faith of the people in the justice system has never been and will never be tolerated or condoned by the Court.”
Sicad was charged for theft in 2022 before the Makati city regional trial court. At the time of the commission of the offense, Sicad was serving as Clerk III of the cashier unit of the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Makati Metropolitan Trial Court.
The case started in February 2022 when Kim Ericka Dela Cruz, cashier on duty at the MeTC, said she received a text message and a phone call from an alleged Lalamove rider regarding a supposed delivery of documents from a certain Ms. Malou of the SC.
Dela Cruz said she asked Sicad to relieve her at the cashier post while she went to get the documents from the alleged motorcycle delivery rider.
However, she could no longer contact the supposed rider and when she returned to her post, Sicad asked for reimbursement of P500 which she purportedly advanced to cover the change due to one of the payees.
Dela Cruz said that when she opened the drawer, Sicad pointed out to her there were fake bills inside the drawer. An investigation into the incident has been ordered.
The probe showed Sicad going to the storage area at the back of the MeTC even after everyone was ordered to stay clear of the area.
Police officers also saw Sicad coming out from the edge of a filing cabinet, prompting them to search the area where they discovered the stolen money inside a black pouch.
There were also fake bills found in the garbage bin in front of Sicad’s table.
A litigant also confirmed that only Sicad was in the cashier area the whole time that Dela Cruz was away.
In imposing the penalty of dismissal from the service, the SC held that the text message from the supposed Lalamove rider for an alleged delivery was “a ruse” to lure Dela Cruz away from her post.
“Sicad used her position while taking charge of the cashier area to unlawfully take and clandestinely hide the court’s cash collections inside the black pouch. Ultimately, Sicad’s unauthorized taking of cash collections in the amount of P277,000.00 constitutes theft, which is a crime involving moral turpitude,” the SC said.
