THE leader of the 40,000-strong Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Monday voiced his strong objection to a Senate plan to investigate allegations of bribery in the judiciary, saying this would violate the Constitution.
“The plan of the Senate to push through with the investigation is a circumvention of the Constitution. In the first place, what would be the purpose of the investigation?” said Vicente Joyas, IBP president.
Joyas was reacting to a statement by Senate President Franklin Drilon that the judiciary is not exempted from Senate investigations.
“They must observe the constitutional provision that only the Supreme Court has the authority to probe the CA justices and lower court judges,” Joyas said, noting that the Senate cannot compel any judges to appear before it.
If the senators push through with the inquiry as sought by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, then they would be violating the constitutional provision on the separation of powers, the IBP president said.
He added that the Senate cannot disguise its investigation as being under the aid of legislation, nor can it justify it on the basis of checks and balances.
“Checks and balances is defined in the Constitution. It pertains to the power of the President over the legislation, the power of the Senate to remove justices by impeachment,” he said.
“The Supreme Court exercises checks and balances by reviewing the actuations of the other branches of the government if there’s grave abuse of discretion. Investigation in aid of legislation on alleged corruption of judges and justices are not those defined in the [Constitution’s] checks and balances provisions.”
Trillanes, who accused Associate Justices Francisco Acosta and Jose Reyes Jr. of the Court of Appeals of accepting bribes of P25 million each in the case against Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr., called for a Senate investigation on what he described as “justice for sale.”
The Supreme Court last week said evidence must be presented to the Court before it can proceed with an investigation against members of the judiciary.
Employees of the Court of Appeals on Monday rallied behind the CA magistrates and protested what they called unfounded allegations made by Trillanes against the court.
Amiel de Vera, president of the Association of Court of Appeals Employees, challenged Trillanes to substantiate before the proper forum his accusation of bribery against the two appellate court justices, instead of making his allegations before the media.
De Vera said they fully support any effort to weed out corruption in the judiciary, but this should be done in the proper venue so as not to destroy the Court of Appeals as an institution.
The protesters wore white shirts to symbolize the transparency and purity of the courts, De Vera said.