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Friday, March 29, 2024

Trillanes urges Senate probe of Binay ‘bribes’

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SENATOR Antonio Trillanes IV asked the Senate Monday to investigate his allegations that Appeals Court Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta took bribes of P25 million each to stop the Ombudsman from carrying out its suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. over corruption charges.

Since “serious allegations have recently surfaced that the Binay camp paid off certain CA justices to rule in their favor,” Trillanes said, the Senate committee on justice and human rights led by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III should investigate the matter.

Trillanes

In a statement, the Court of Appeals Sixth Division denied taking any bribes and warned Trillanes against making baseless accusations that were tantamount to harassment.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, the mayor’s father, also denounced Trillanes for making false and malicious allegations.

Reacting to Trillanes’ call, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said the Senate does not have the power to investigate the CA justices, and said the senator must file his complaint against the justices before the Supreme Court.

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“If they have evidence, we will help them. But it should be hard evidence and not hearsay. If there’s none, then they should stop the insinuation that will destroy the judiciary as an institution,” said Vicente Joyas, the national president of the IBP.

Joyas said the national organization of lawyers will initiate its own inquiry into the bribery allegations on April 22 and would invite Trillanes to shed light on his accusations.

Trillanes, quoting unnamed sources, said lawyer Arthur Villaraza facilitated the bribe, with Reyes and Acosta receiving an initial P20 million each for issuing a temporary restraining order against the Office of the Ombudsman.

When the Ombudsman and the Department of Interior and Local Government did not heed the TRO, Reyes and Acosta were given P5 million each to issue a writ of preliminary injunction, Trillanes said.

Villaraza, whom Trillanes accused of facilitating the bribes, challenged the senator to show proof to support his “libelous claim.”

“Villaraza & Angangco vehemently denies the baseless allegations of Senator Trillanes against Pancho Villaraza regarding the decision of the Court of Appeals on the Binay injunction. Mayor Junjun Binay is not a client of the firm, and specifically, the firm does not represent the mayor in the cases filed against him,” said V&A Law managing partner Bienvenido Somera Jr. in a statement.

“In the spirit of fairness and in accordance with due process, we challenge Senator Trillanes to reveal who his ‘reliable sources’ are, and more importantly to produce proof to support his libelous statements,” the statement added.

The writ of prelimianry injunction stopped the Ombudsman, the DILG and their agents from enforcing the Ombudsman’s March 10 order preventively suspending Binay Jr. for six months. They were also directed to preserve and respect the status quo before the issuance of the preventive suspension order.

The Ombudsman had ordered Mayor Binay and other Makati city officials be placed under preventive suspension over charges that the Makati City Hall Building II was overpriced.

Acosta was among the two other members of the Sixth Division who concurred with Reyes’ decision. The other member is Justice Eduardo Peralta Jr.

Senator Nancy Binay, the mayor’s sister, said it was unfortunate that Trillanes would resort to lies, distortions and “an unrestrained hate barrage” against institutions like the CA and even local courts.

She pointed out that Trillanes instantly blamed her father, the Vice President, after the San Fernando Regional Trial Court Branch 42 decided to bar Delfin Lee from attending the Senate hearing.

“He alleged that my father was behind the move even before he got hold of a copy of the decision. What he is doing is destroy first and search for proof later which is doing a great damage to many institutions, and I fear how much damage he will do to our judiciary because of his baseless accusations,” Senator Binay said.

“It is disturbing that Senator Trillanes does not even make an effort to hide the fact that his actions are motivated by his ambition. He will stop at nothing to get to the position he wants in 2016,” Senator Binay added.

Lee, detained over a P6.6 billion estafa complaint, on Monday linked his incarceration to his failure to accede to a P200 million extortion attempt to implicate former vice president Noli de Castro in a non-existent Pag-IBIG fund scam, all upon the instructions of Vice President Binay.

He also said Binay used his influence to get Pampanga regional trial court Judge Amifaith Fider S. Reyes to bar Lee from testifying before the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearing.

At Monday’s hearing, Lee’s lawyer read a statement for his client instead.

In his resolution, Trillanes noted that based on published reports, Villaraza appeared to be a very powerful and influential lawyer. He has been a known political operator with deep links among politicians and members of the judiciary and prosecution service, most of whom he once helped to get appointed or promoted during the two previous administrations.

Citing published reports, Trillanes said Villaraza was know as the personal counsel of former President and now congresswoman Glora Arroyo, who has been under hospital arrest since 2011.

Trillanes also said that Villaraza’s decision to support Vice President Binay’s presidential campaign

In his resolution, Trillanes also cited persistent media reports about widespread and prevalent corruption in the judiciary and that at the CA, some cases are purported to be decided not on merit but on how much a litigant is willing to pay.

In a statement Monday, the Vice President said Trillanes had once again showed that he was ready to destroy and vilify an independent and co-equal institution such as the judiciary.

“The Judiciary has painstakingly instituted reforms to ensure that the justice system in the country can be trusted by the people. Senator Trillanes meanwhile has irresponsibly brushed these efforts aside with his innuendoes and cheap shots,” the statement said.

United Nationalist Alliance interim president Toby Tiangco, on the other hand, said Trillanes’ “lust for power has pushed him to lose his mind.”

“Now he wants the Senate to investigate the courts which is a co-equal branch without offering any credible evidence but merely on the word of ‘sources,’” Tiangco added.

In denying Trillanes’ accusations, the appeals court said the TRO and preliminary inunction were issued “after observing a meticulous, impartial and judicious evaluation of prevailing laws, jurisprudence and evidence presented by the parties.”

“The judiciary must be insulated from partisan politics. We dispense justice based on the rule of law and established evidence, and will continue to do so,” the court added.  With Vito Barcelo

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