A Filipino judge who "claimed he could see into the future and admitted consulting imaginary mystic dwarfs" is asking to be reinstated after getting the boot for incompetence, Reuters reports.

Trial judge Florentino Floro, who held court in Manila, was given his marching orders and slapped with a 40,000 pesos ($780) fine last month following a three-year investigation which found he had "shown bias in a case he was trying and had criticized court procedure".

Rather more seriously, he told investigators that "three mystic dwarfs - Armand, Luis and Angel - helped him carry out healing sessions during breaks in his chambers", which pretty well settled the matter. The Supreme Court's clinic declared that he was suffering from psychosis, although the court stopped short of calling him insane.

Floro has now filed an appeal. "They should not have dismissed me for what I believed," he declared. ®