SC Punishes Cabanatuan Judge Over Baguio Parking Trouble

December 24, 2020 JUST IN

BAGUIO CITY (December 24, 2020) — The Supreme Court declared Cabanatuan City Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 3 Judge Nelson Largo guilty of simple misconduct and fined him P11,000 after figuring in a parking controversy in Baguio City in October last year.

On October 25, 2019, traffic enforcers from the Baguio Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) led by Bernard Batnag removed the plate number of the illegally parked vehicle of Judge Largo at Kayang Street inside the Baguio City Public Market and issued a citation ticket.

But the Judge on October 28, 2019 issued a subpoena demanding Batnag and his colleagues to appear before him in his sala on November 28, 2019 to

explain why they should not be cited for contempt. Largo claimed that because of the time he spent in retrieving his license plate caused delays on the hearings and processes of the cases he was handling.

He also argued that he parked his vehicle for a short period of time after attending a security seminar in Baguio City and he was heading back to Cabanatuan City.

The Supreme Court however favored the letter of Mayor Benjamin Magalong informing the court of the grievance of the city’s traffic law enforcers.

The Baguio City council also in November, 2019 declared Largo ‘persona non grata’ in the city after it favored Batnag for issuing a citation ticket for illegal parking in accordance with Ordinance No. 01, series of 2003 or the Baguio City Number Coding Scheme as amended.

Artemio A. Dumlao