Judge Loses Job for Fraternizing with Dwarves

POSTED BY: Cybersnark
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 6, 2006 11:15
VIEWED: 4723
PAGE 1 of 1

CYBERSNARK

Friday, August 18, 2006 2:30 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5261856.stm

Quote:
Florentino Floro was appealing against a three-year inquiry which led to his removal due to incompetence and bias.

He told investigators three mystic dwarves - Armand, Luis and Angel [!?!] - had helped him to carry out healing sessions during breaks in his chambers.

Granted, the name of the third dwarf is probably just coincidence. . .

Quote:
The judge said he had made a covenant with his dwarf friends that he could write while in a trance and that he had been seen by several people in two places at the same time.

Easy enough to prove/disprove, I should think. Naturally no-one will bother.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

JUDGEFLORO

Wednesday, September 6, 2006 11:15 AM

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=26377&s
id=9682141&con_type=1&d_str=20060902

Creature features of the Philippines

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Judge Floro Florentino is not too pleased with his three spiritual guides being referred to as dwarves or duende, as superstitious Filipinos call these elf-like beings. His brother, who first saw them, called them duende, a Spanish word of ambiguous definition.
To Filipinos, they are something like tiny magical goblins who live in forested areas. There are, according to folklore, two types: black, denoting evil which can harm, and red, who are good and can heal. On the island of Mindoro, the Mangyan tribe claim to trade with the few remaining duende for forest products. They are said to be extremely shy because of the violence that has been done to them in the past.

Then there are the nocturnal Agta, tall black men who also hang out in the forests, while the Batibat, found in Ilocos, look like fat women who live inside posts, and suffocate people by sitting on top of them.

The bovine-like Mantahungal have fearsome teeth, the Pugot are self-beheading multi-formed creatures, and the Tikbalang are centaurs in reverse. These and many more magical creatures - some invisible, some half-human, half- animal - are all said to inhabit the Philippine countryside.

Florentino and the three dwarves
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=26375&s
id=9641493&con_type=3&d_str=20060902

Saturday, September 02, 2006

A Filipino judge who was dismissed from the bench because of his ongoing relationship with invisible mystics meets with Sam Chambers to explain his side of the story
T he Philippine judiciary has oft been the butt of a joke but never before has one of its members caused so much mirth as Judge Floro Florentino and his three invisible dwarves.

Judge Florentino and the dwarves - Luis, Armand and Angel - might sound like a good name for a band but they are in fact the main characters in a surreal tale from a nation famous for its superstitions.

Last month, the trial judge lost his final appeal to keep his job, with the Supreme Court's 72-page ruling stating that Florentino's "dalliance" with Luis, Armand and Angel showed he had a "medically disabling condition of the mind" that rendered him "unfit to discharge the functions of his office" which in turn could "erode the public's esteem of the judiciary" and make it an "object of ridicule."

Florentino and I arrange to meet at what seems the most apt of places to discuss such matters - the Hobbit Bar on Mabene St in the Manila district of Malate. Charitably offering employment for the vertically challenged, it has been a tourist attraction for more than 10 years.

Florentino's three sidekicks, or "spiritual guides" as he prefers them to be called, take many different forms. Luis is the "king of kings" or "God's angel," while Armand is a beautiful boy who, like Luis, has wings. Angel is their sister. Florentino has on
ly seen Luis once - on a rock in the middle of the Philippine archipelago. Luis communicates and uses his powers via violet and white lights.

Florentino peers over the bar and orders a bottle of Australian shiraz but shows no sign of recognition - it seems that Luis, Armand and Angel are not among the diminutive presences to serve us. Moments later a pudgy hand holding a 2003 vintage appears out of nowhere; two glasses follow, as if by levitation, from beneath the bar.

Looking 10 years younger than his 53 years, Florentino comes across as remarkably lucid. For sure he rambles in a high-pitched tone, often going off on tangents, yet the psychosis the Supreme Court claims he has is not immediately apparent.

Fame, or infamy, clearly is something this otherwise shy man seems to enjoy. He comes to the interview armed with 300 pages of clippings and court appeals. He says, with no small relish, that he and his three cohorts have appeared in more than 66 media titles and 1,000 blogs.

One such blogger described Florenti