LEONARDA VDA. DE MALASARTE, COMPLAINANT, VS. DEPUTY SHERIFF LIBRADO Z. YEBES, COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE, DIPOLOG CITY, RESPONDENT.

This is an administrative complaint filed by Leonarda Vda. de
Malasarte, dated March 7, 1977, charging respondent Librado Yebes, Deputy
Sheriff of the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga del Norte, Branch III,
Dipolog City, with alleged failure to execute a writ of execution issued in her
favor as a prevailing litigant and for de­manding and receiving from her the
sum of Two Hundred Pesos (P200.00) to reimburse what the respondent supposedly incurred while serving the aforesaid writ
of execution.^[1]

In Civil Case No. 2627 for Forcible Entry, original­ly filed with
the Municipal Court of Sibutad, Zamboanga del Norte, the plaintiffs therein,
heirs of Juanito Mala­sarte, et al., obtained a favorable decision, dated Sep­tember
16, 1974, which, when appealed to the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga del
Norte and later to the Court of Appeals, was sustained and affirmed.  Although the decision of the Court of Appeals
was elevated to this Court on certiorari, because of failure of
the petitioners to pay the required fees on time, the petition was
dismissed.  When the decision of the
Court of Appeals became final and exe­cutory, the Court of First Instance of
Zamboanga del Norte, Branch I, Dipolog City, upon application, issued a writ of
execution, dated March 4, 1976.  The Writ
com­manded the Provincial Sheriff or any of his deputies to:

1)   
Place the plaintiffs’ heirs, represented by
Leonarda Vda. de Malasarte, in the pos­session of a parcel of land des­cribed
therein; and

2)
To satisfy from the goods and chattels of the defendants the sum of P629.00 and
deliver the same to the plaintiffs, represented by Leonarda Vda. de
Malasarte.  If sufficient personal property can­not be found to satisfy the judg­ment
and other fees, to raise the amount from real properties of de­fendants in
accordance with the Rules of Court.^[2]

In a 1st Indorsement, dated March 9, 1977, the then Executive
Judge of the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga del Norte, Branch III,
Dipolog City, Hon. Dimalanes B. Buissan, required the respondent Deputy Sheriff
Librado Yebes to explain within seventy-two (72) hours (1) why he had not
served the writ of execution in the case or if he had served it, why no return
had been made; and (2) why it was necessary for him to get P200.00 from
complainant Leonarda Vda. de Malasarte and to ex­plain what he did with the
money.^[3]

In his reply dated March
14, 1977 to the aforesaid 1st Indorsement, the respondent stated:^[4]

a)     
That he received the office directive assigning
him to serve the Writ of Execution in Civil Case No. 2627 on March 5, 1976;
that finding out later on that one of the defend­ants, Amparo Dumuag, was
residing in Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental, about 80 kilometers away from
Dipolog City, which may be reached only through a circuituous way, he had to
hire a pump boat and sail in open sea; that he had to stay overnight at said
Sapang Dalaga, take his meals there as well as on the way and to buy gasoline
for the pump boat, and succeeded in serving the writ;

b)     
That on March 8, 1976, he had to hike some 12
kilometers to reach Baylimangao, Dapitan City, to serve the writ on Teofila M.
Bolay-og, another defendant;

c)      That
plaintiff Leonarda Vda. de Malasarte was placed in possession of the land
subject of the Writ of Execution on March 6, 1976;

d)      That
he received the amount of P200.00 from complainant to re­imburse him for the
expenses he in­curred while serving the said writ but submitted an accounting
of how the money was disbursed;

e)      That
he could not raise the amount of P629.00 from the personal properties of
defendants because these are exempt from execution under the Rules of Court and
defendants had no real properties registered in their names; and

f)       
That he
was unable to make a return of the Writ within the 60-day period because he was
trying to help Malasarte locate other pro­perties of defendants and he kept the
Writ of Execution in his pos­session.^[5]

In a Resolution of this Court dated September 18, 1978, the case
was referred to Executive Judge Simplicio Apalisok of the Court of First
Instance of Zamboanga del Norte, at Dipolog
City, for investigation, report and recommendation.^[6]

At the hearing conducted by the Executive Judge on November 6,
1978, the complainant, Leonarda Vda. de Malasarte, declared that she was no
longer interested to pursue her
complaint against Deputy Sheriff Yebes.^[7] However, for the good of the service, Judge
Apalisok con­tinued the investigation to elicit facts.  In his report, he made the following
findings:^[8]

a)       Complainant
Leonarda Vda. de Malasarte had been placed in possession of the property in accordance with the Writ of Execution;

b)       The
amount of P629.00 could not be secured because defendants have no properties
which could be seized and levied upon for the purpose;

c)      
Respondent’s explanation regarding his failure
to make a return of the Writ to the court was unsatisfactory;

d)      
The expenditure by respondent of the P200.00 was
not justi­fied since the expenses incurred by him in serving the Writ were
unnecessary.

The investigating judge recommended that respondent Librado Yebes
be exonerated with respect to the charges that he failed to place complainant
in possession of the property or secure the amount of P629.00 from defendants
but that the erring Deputy Sheriff be severely repri­manded for demanding and
obtaining the amount of P200.00 from complainant Malasarte to reimburse himself
for the purported expenses he incurred while serving and exe­cuting the Writ.

The findings of fact of Executive Judge Simplicio Apalisok who
conducted the inquiry into the case are
supported by the record.  This is
the second time that the respondent Yebes has committed the same offense des­pite
an earlier warning.  The respondent
deputy sheriff should be meted a heavier penalty for having disregarded the
warning.

WHEREFORE, having again failed to make a return of the
Writ of Execution within the maximum period of sixty (60) days prescribed by Sec. 11, Rule 39 of the Revised Rules
of Court and for demanding the amount of Two Hundred Pesos (P200.00) from the
prevailing party to cover his expenses incident to serving and executing the
writ of execution, an act which is in violation of existing regulation on the
matter, the respondent Librado Yebes, Deputy Sheriff of the Court of First
Instance of Zamboanga del Norte, Dipolog City, is hereby suspended for a period
of one (1) month without pay commencing from the time his preventive suspension
is lifted.

SO ORDERED.

Teehankee, (Chairman), Makasiar, Guerrero, De Castro, and Melencio-Herrera, JJ., concur.

^[1]
Rollo, p. 1.

^[2]
Writ of Execution, Civil Case No. 2627, CFI, Branch I, Dipolog City, March 4,
1976, Rollo, pp. 23-25.

^[3]
1st Indorsement of Executive Judge Dimalanes B. Buissan, March 9, 1977, Rollo,
p. 2.

^[4]
Reply to 1st Indorsement, March 14,
1977, of Librado Yebes, Rollo, pp. 20-21.

^[5]
Judge Simplicio Apalisok’s Investigation Report, pp. 5-6, Rollo, pp.
37-38.

^[6]
Rollo, p. 30.

^[7]
Rollo, p. 47.

^[8]
Investigation Report of Judge Simplicio Apalisok, Rollo, pp. 33-44.