The judge who was dismissed from the bench due to his strange relationship with three “mystic dwarves” has just been eliminated from the race for the post that will be vacated by Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno in May.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said yesterday the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) removed the name of former Malabon Judge Florentino Floro Jr. from the list of possible candidates to replace Puno, thus, leaving eight contenders for the Chief Justice post.

He said the JBC also directed its ex-officio secretary, lawyer Ma. Luisa Villarama, to verify if another candidate, Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio, has a pending case.

“The secretariat was tasked to find out if he (Villa-Ignacio) has pending cases and what is the nature of these cases. It would depend on the findings of the secretariat if Villa-Ignacio will still be included in the list,” Marquez said.

“Atty. Villarama is already checking if there’s a pending case against Special Prosecutor Villa-Ignacio,” he added.

It has been a policy of the JBC to exclude candidates who have pending cases, Marquez said.

The court official, however, said Villa-Ignacio will remain in the race unless excluded by the JBC.

Other contenders for Chief Justice are SC Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Renato Corona, Conchita Carpio Morales, Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Arturo Brion, acting Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval and Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez.

Marquez said Floro’s removal from the list was primarily due to a previous SC decision dismissing him from the judiciary.

“He (Floro) has been separated from the judiciary. That decision of the High Court speaks for itself,” he said.

In 2006, the SC dismissed Floro after he admitted consulting his mystic dwarves – Armand, Luis, and Angel – during healing sessions in his chambers.

The SC said psychic phenomena had no place in the judiciary. It backed a medical finding that the judge was suffering from psychosis.

Marquez said as soon as Villa-Ignacio’s pending case is verified, the JBC will publish the names of the candidates to allow the public to submit their comments for or against the aspirants for the Chief Justice post.

“Two weeks after the publication, the JBC will decide if interview will be conducted and who will be interviewed. After that, the JBC will have to prepare the shortlist,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Justice Corona assailed what he regarded as an attempt to destroy his reputation.

Corona branded as “vicious lies” the allegations of lawyer Fernando Campos that he accepted bribe in the form of free airline tickets to Las Vegas on May 3, 2009 to watch the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight.

Campos, a losing litigant in an online cockfighting dispute earlier decided by the High Court, filed his complaint before the JBC. He is the chairman of the Inter-Petal Recreational Corp. (IPRC), which filed a petition for certiorari against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) and Philweb Corp. in connection with the operation of an online cockfighting betting.

In his letter-reply, Corona said there was nothing irregular in his outright dismissal of the IPRC petition “considering the numerous procedural defects in the petition.”

He also lashed out at Campos for insinuating that Philweb financed his US trip last year, saying he has “always paid for my trips.”

“The month of May is traditionally the Supreme Court’s summer recess and, in all my years in the Supreme Court since 2002, my wife and I have always taken that opportunity to visit our daughter and her family in the United States, with or without a Pacquiao fight,” Corona explained.

“My trip to the US, in May, 2009, was not out of the ordinary. It was just one of the yearly trips we make every May to visit our daughter and her family,” he added.