OBRERO V. ACIDERA (ADMINISTRATIVE)

As correctly pointed out the Office of the Court Administrator, respondent's disregard of an elementary rule of procedure makes her administratively liable for IGNORANCE OF THE LAW.

The act alleged in the complaint is a violation of Section 5, Rule 15 of the Rules of Court:

Section 5. Notice of Hearing - The notice of hearing shall be addressed to all parties concerned, and shall specify the time and date of the hearing which must not be later than 10 days after the filing of the motion.

It is an elementary rule of procedure that any motion, which does not comply with the above procedural requisite is a mere scrap of paper, should not be accepted for filing, and if filed, is not entitled to judicial cognizance. As such, it produces no effect on the reglementary period for the filing of the required pleading. Thus, where the motion is directed to the clerk of court, not to the parties, and merely states that the same is to be submitted for the resolution of the court upon receipt thereof, such a motion is fatally defective. Any subsequent action of the court thereon will not cure the flaw, for a motion with a fatally defective notice is a useless piece of paper.

To comply with the requirement notice, as part and parcel of procedural due process, it is necessary that all motions be addressed to all parties concerned. This is a mandatory requirement, and the failure of the movant to comply with this requisite is fatal. Accordingly, a clerk of court who accepts the filing of a fatally defective motion and submits the same to the judgment of the court is equally guilty of violating a basic procedural requirement.

The clerk of court's compliance with the Rules of Court is not merely directory, but mandatory. He is expected to know the rules of procedure, particularly those rules that pertain to his functions as an officer of the court.