G.R. No. 123546 July 2, 1998

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,

vs.

JOERAL GALLENO, accused-appellant.

Accused-appellant Joeral Galleno was charged and convicted with the crime of rape of a 5-year old child. He seeks reversal of the judgment of the trial court alleging that he was deprived of a fair and impartial trial since the judge discounted the accused testimony and actively participated in the cross examination of the accused-appellant.

Issue: W/N, the trial judge is guilty of undue interference.

Held:

Rule 3.06 of the Code of Judicial Conduct provides:

While a judge may, to promote justice, prevent waste of time or clear up some obscurity, properly intervene in the presentation of evidence during the trial, it should always be borne in mind that undue interference may prevent the proper presentation of the cause or the ascertainment of truth.

The court held that there is undue interference if the judge extensively propounds questions to the witnesses which will have the effect of or will tend to build or bolster the case for one of the parties.

In the instant case, the court found that the trial court judge, the Honorable Salvador S. Gubaton, did propound questions but this was done only for clarification purposes and not to build the case for one of the parties. The line of questioning referred to hardly shows bias on the part of the trial court, but a pure clarification.