OFFICE OF THE COURT ADMINISTRATOR, COMPLAINANT, VS. PRESIDING JUDGE JOSEPH CEDRICK O. RUIZ, REGIONAL TRIAL COURT, BRANCH 61, MAKATI CITY, RESPONDENT
“x x x.
The preventive suspension we impose pending investigation is not a penalty but serves only as a preventive measure as we explained above. Because it is not a penalty, its imposition does not violate the right of the accused to be presumed innocent. It also matters not that the offenses for which the respondent had been convicted were committed in 2001 when he was still the Mayor of Dapitan City.7 As explained below, it is likewise immaterial that his criminal convictions by the Sandiganbayan are still on appeal with this Court.
X x x.”
