MANILA-A Quezon City judge has been fined by the Supreme Court (SC) for delay in resolving a motion filed by a litigant in a pending case before his sala. In a resolution uploaded online on April 4, the high court fined QC Regional Trial Court (RTC Branch 226) Judge Manuel B. Sta. Cruz Jr. PHP9,000 for gross inefficiency and delay in the administration of justice and was sternly warned that repetition would be dealt with more severely. Sta. Cruz, however, was cleared of charges of gross ignorance of the law and evident bias for lack of merit. The court said records show that it took 12 months for the magistrate to rule on a motion for reconsideration filed by a party and to issue an order on the pending case to the clerk of court for resolution. "This is way beyond the reglementary period of 90 days within which judges must resolve motions or incidents pending before them. As such, as the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) properly observed, respondent (judge) is administrati