Reconsider order vs CA justices, House urged

MANILA, Philippines -  Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. asked the House of Representatives yesterday to reconsider the show cause order it issued against three CA justices who ordered the release of six Ilocos Norte provincial officials being held at the lower chamber for contempt.

In a joint statement yesterday, Sereno and Reyes cited the “implications on separation of powers and judicial independence” of the show cause order issued by the House committee on good government and public accountability on Associate Justices Stephen Cruz, Edwin Sorongon and Nina Antonio-Valenzuela of the appellate court’s Special Fourth Division.

“Without inquiring into the merits of the issue currently pending before the Special Fourth Division and subject to the House committee’s inquiry, we note that the House of Representatives is not without any speedy legal remedy that is consistent with the separation of powers should it disagree with the action of the (CA), such as an appeal,” they stressed.

With this lone point, Sereno and Reyes asked for reconsideration of the show cause order and suggested that the House instead “avail of all legal remedies that are provided to it under the Constitution, the law and the Rules of Court.”

The show cause order was issued upon the motion of Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, head of the House justice committee.

The committee on good government and public accountability voted unanimously to order three CA justices to show cause as to why they should not be cited in contempt for ordering the release of six Ilocos Norte provincial officials being detained for contempt since May 29.

The panel cited the six local officials in contempt for supposed evasive answers during their investigation into the alleged misuse of P66.45 million in tobacco funds to buy motor vehicles.

The committee called the CA “an inferior court” and questioned why the magistrates granted the petition for habeas corpus of the so-called “Ilocos 6” and ordered their release on bail.  

The CA ordered the release of Pedro Agcaoili, Provincial Planning and Development Office chairman; Josephine Calajate, provincial treasurer; Eden Battulayan, Encarnacion Gaor and Genedine Jambaro, all staff at the Provincial Treasurer’s Office; and Evangeline Tabulog, provincial budget officer.

It also issued a show cause order requiring House sergeant-at-arms Roland Detabali to explain why he should not be cited in contempt for defying the order and twice rejecting the service of the CA ruling. ?But House officials refused to accept the orders and reportedly insisted that they were invalid because the appellate court has no jurisdiction over the matter.   

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon also urged the House to avail itself of remedies under the law and elevate the case to the Supreme Court. “In other words, the procedures should be followed,” Drilon said.

“Filing an administrative against what you perceive as a grave abuse of authority is not the remedy. The remedy is to bring it up for review in the (SC). If the (SC) says there was malice, incompetence on the part of the justices, then on that basis maybe you can file an administrative case,” he said.

‘House torturing  Ilocos 6’

Also yesterday, former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza slammed the House for the continuous detention of six Ilocos Norte provincial officials for almost a month now – an act he described as torture.

Mendoza, lead counsel of the officials in their writ of habeas corpus case before the CA, stressed the detention is no longer for the purpose of contempt citation by the House committee on good government and public accountability, but rather an obvious act of continuous torture to force his clients to issue statements that would please congressmen.?The veteran litigation lawyer lamented that the Ilocos Norte officials have been suffering undue emotional and psychological anguish, not to mention the pitiable detention conditions, which under the anti-torture law constitute an act of torture.

Mendoza stressed his clients should be released as soon as possible as he called on the House leadership to respect the orders of the CA, the judiciary being a co-equal branch of government with power to review actions of Congress.?“We have already filed a writ of habeas corpus. That is more than enough. The writ of habeas should be immediately executory,” he told reporters in an interview at the CA.

“The detainees are undergoing torture, which is barred by international conventions and barred explicitly under our laws as well,” he further lamented.

Mendoza made the statement after the House committee rejected the appeal of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos for the release of the provincial executives on her recognizance.

They face protracted detention, possibly until the end of the current Congress in June 2019, or until lawmakers are satisfied with their answers.?For his part, Ilocos Norte Sangguniang Panlalawigan member and lawyer Vicentito Lazo urged the House leaders to adhere to the “rule of law.”

Lazo, co-counsel for the Ilocos 6, rejected the position of Congress that the writ of habeas corpus is useless.

“Philippine authorities are under obligation to make available to every person detained all remedies that will safeguard his fundamental right to liberty, these remedies include the right to bail. So it’s not true that the writ of habeas corpus is meaningless,” he said.

“The problem with (House Majority Leader Rodolfo) Fariñas (Sr.) is he is insisting that the writ of habeas corpus is useless. It only became useless because they are defying the court order,” Lazo added.

Mendoza added that even if Congress files for a motion for reconsideration, it will not suspend the effectivity of the release order.

During the House committee hearing, Fariñas asked the Ilocos Norte officials regarding the purchase of motor vehicles based on photocopied documents.

The committee had asked to see the original documents, which had been submitted from corresponding Provincial Capitol offices to the Commission on Audit.

Lazo, however, pointed out that the employees “did not say ‘I refuse to answer, Your Honor.’ What they said was, ‘Those are photocopies. If we could find the originals, we could answer your questions’.”

“But Congressman Fariñas said the originals were lost, and added that the capitol lost the documents at the COA office itself,” Lazo added. 

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had gone as far as threatening to abolish the CA and disbar the three justices in the division that issued the orders.

Drilon said this was theoretically possible based on the argument that because the CA was created by a law, then Congress could also abolish it through a law. –  With Marvin Sy