THE HELP OF his dwarf friends Armand, Luis and Angel notwithstanding, former Judge Florentino Floro Jr. failed to convince the Supreme Court not to dismiss him from the judiciary for being incapable of deciding cases on his own without help from his paranormal allies.
The court said psychic phenomena had no place in the judiciary.
In a resolution released yesterday, the 15 justices of the high tribunal threw out three motions for reconsideration filed by the 53-year-old judge asking the court to dismiss the administrative complaint filed against him and to return him to the bench.
The decision penned by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario ?denied with finality? Floro?s motions for lack of merit. It said it would no longer entertain further motions from the former Malabon judge.
?We reiterate that judges are expected to be guided by the rule of law and to resolve cases before them with judicial detachment,? the court said.
Object of ridicule
The court said its decision had nothing to do with Floro?s belief in dwarves or the validity of such a belief, but on the need to protect the integrity of the judiciary as a ?rational guardian of the law.?
?The psychological finding of mental unfitness (made not only by the psychiatrists of the Supreme Court clinic but by Judge Floro?s own doctors during the hearing of his cases), when taken together with Judge Floro?s claimed dalliance with ?dwendes,? poses a serious challenge to such required judicial detachment and impartiality and would eventually erode the public?s acceptance of the judiciary as the rational guardian of the law, if not make it an object of ridicule,? the court said.
?In fine, Judge Floro himself has confirmed that he is incapable of discharging the duties of a judge free from extrajudicial influences and that he falls short of the fundamental requirements of competence and objectivity expected of all judges,? the court said.
On March 31, the court dismissed Floro after finding him to be suffering from a mental ?disabling condition? that made it impossible for him to discharge his judicial functions.
In that decision also penned by Nazario, Floro was found guilty of seven of the 13 administrative charges lodged against him by the Office of the Court Administrator.
Seeing the future
Among other things, Floro admitted believing in ?psychic visions? to see the future because of his power in ?psychic phenomenon.?
He also confessed that he had made a covenant with his ?dwarf friends,? that he could write while in a trance and that he had been seen by several people in two places at the same time.
?Psychic phenomena, even assuming such exist, have no place in a judiciary duty bound to apply only positive law and, in its absence, equitable rules and principles in resolving controversies,? the court said in an en banc decision.
In his motion for reconsideration, Floro had taunted the court, saying its decision had made him and his imaginary friends ?immortal.?
?From obscurity, my name ... and the three mystic dwarfs became ? immortal -- not only in this country, not solely in international broadcasts (CNN, MSN-NBC) or in almost all print media worldwide, but first and foremost, in the indelible memory of world judicial history,? he said in a letter to the court.
Floro also said news of his dismissal appeared in forum discussions in more than 1,000 blogs and elicited 10,000 replies all over the world, with believers of the occult and those who claim to see spirits and dwarves siding with him.
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