THE Court of Appeals has found Senator Antonio Trillanes IV guilty of indirect contempt for claiming two of its justices were bribed to stop the suspension of former Makati Mayor Junjun Binay by the Ombudsman over the allegedly anomalous Makati City Hall Building 2.
The court ordered Trillanes to pay a 30,000-peso fine.
Trillanes on Monday said he merely performed his duty as a senator in exposing the corruption in the government when he said Binay bribed two justices of the Court of Appeals P25 million each to stop his suspension by the Ombudsman.
“More importantly, the allegation was not made through a press statement but was, in fact, the principal subject of a Senate resolution calling for a legislative inquiry,” Trillanes said in a text message.
He said he will file an appeal before the Supreme Court.
The appellate court had found merit in the petition filed by Binay in April last year, agreeing that Trillanes’ insinuation that two magistrates were paid P25 million each to stop his preventive suspension by the Ombudsman was baseless.
The court said it was convinced that the senator’s “malicious and baseless utterances and imputations against this Court and some of its justices” were intended to “abuse and interfere in the processes and proceedings of this Court and tend to impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.”
The court rejected Trillanes’ defense of parliamentary immunity.
“From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that respondent was not in the exercise of his official function as as senator and as a legislator when he made those imputations against this Court,” the decision says.
“Accordingly, he cannot be saved by his claim of parliamentary immunity and the doctrine of absolute privileged communication.
“Needless to state, he is deemed an ordinary person when he made a baseless attack on the integrity and credibility of this Court and its justices.”
Trillianes is also facing libel charges filed by Binay before the Department of Justice over his allegations of bribery.