THE SUPREME Court (SC) has ordered Court of Appeals Associate Justice Normandie B. Pizarro to pay a fine of P100,000 after he was found guilty of gambling, a violation of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1869. According to the 10-page decision promulgated on March 13, 2018, “(an) anonymous letter-complaint accused Justice Pizarro of being a gambling addict who would allegedly lose millions of pesos in the casinos daily, and insinuated that Justice Pizarro resorted to selling his cases in order to support his gambling addiction.” Attached in the complaint were four sheets of photographs showing Mr. Pizarro gambling at the Midori Hotel and Casino in Clark, Pampanga. Mr. Pizarro admitted that “he was indeed the person” in the photos, but that he was simply accompanying a friend. He added that “the photographs may have been taken by people with ulterior motives considering his plan for early retirement” in Feb. of this year. — Dane Angelo M. Enerio
