JUAN RAMIREZ, COMPLAINANT, VS. JUDGE ROMULO A. SALAZAR, MUNICIPAL JUDGE OF LAWA-AN, EASTERN SAMAR, RESPONDENT.

Juan Ramirez sought in 1975 the disbarment of Municipal Judge Romulo A.
Salazar of Lawa-an, Eastern Samar (now circuit municipal judge of
Maydolong­-Balangkayan, Eastern Samar) on the ground of gross misconduct
as a lawyer and judge.

Ramirez alleged that Judge Salazar, taking advantage of his position and
his profession as a lawyer, forcibly removed the barbed wire fence
separating the land of Ramirez from the land of the Salazars located at
Barrio Paglalangnan, Balangiga, Eastern Samar and that by means of
duress he seized a portion of Ramirez’s land planted to one hundred
fruit-bearing coconut trees.

Judge Salazar in his answer admitted that he removed the barbed wire
fence which was surreptitiously placed by Ramirez and his helpers and
which encroached on the lands of the Salazars and the Albetria family.
He said Ramirez was a notorious land-grabber.

He removed the fence after his demands for its removal were not heeded
by Ramirez. He relied on article 429 of the Civil Code which allows an
owner to use such force as may be reasonably necessary to repel an
actual unlawful physical invasion or usurpa­tion of his property.

The case was referred by the Solicitor General to the provincial fiscal
of Eastern Samar for inves­tigation. The counsel for the complainant in
1976 manifested to the investigator that Ramirez was no longer
interested in pursuing his complaint and that he believed that the
remedy was a civil action.

Ramirez died on August 25, 1982 at the age of 73. It was only on December 2, 1983
that his counsel made a written manifestation that the case be
dismissed. The provincial fiscal in an indorsement to the Solicitor
General dated February 20, 1984 recommended the dismissal of the case
because the complainant failed to present evidence in support of the
charge.

In his report dated May 2, 1984 the Solicitor General averred that the
case should be dismissed for lack of merit. Finding that recommendation
to be justified, this case is hereby dismissed.
SO ORDERED.

Makasiar, (Chairman), Concepcion, Jr., Guerrero, Abad Santos, and Escolin, JJ., concur.