Santiago, Carpio, not Quisumbing, quit probe

Two Supreme Court justices designated as members of a panel to investigate the alleged leakage of an unpromulgated decision by the High Court on the disqualification case of Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong yesterday inhibited themselves and resigned from the panel.

Court spokesman Midas Marquez said Associate Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Antonio Carpio voluntarily inhibited themselves as members of the three-member investigating committee created by Chief Justice Reynato Puno and headed by Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing.

ABS-CBN Newsbreak erroneously reported in a story published by The STAR yesterday that it was Quisumbing who had inhibited himself.

The unpromulgated decision by the high tribunal was reportedly the basis of a move to impeach Chief Justice Puno.

Marquez said Carpio inhibited from the panel because he was mentioned in the complaint filed by Luis Biraogo, which questioned Limkaichong’s nationality.

Santiago, on the other hand, inhibited from the case on request of retired associate justice Ruben Reyes, said Marquez.

Reyes is the ponente (author) of the leaked decision.

Marquez said Associate Justices Renato Corona and Conchita Carpio-Morales would replace the two, with Quisumbing still the chairman of the probe body.

Last Dec. 12, the court ordered a litigant in the citizenship case of Limkaichong to explain within 10 days why he should not be cited in contempt for “leaking” and circulating to media the court’s unpromulgated decision on the case.

In a three-page resolution, the SC dismissed as baseless the allegations of Biraogo that the it had committed an act of irregularity by conducting an oral argument on the case on Aug 26, 2008 when a decision was allegedly already reached by the high court on July 15, 2008.

In response, the SC created an investigating committee to look into the leak. The committee was tasked to investigate the unauthorized release of the unpromulgated ponencia of Reyes and determine who were responsible for the leakage of confidential internal documents of the court.

“The unpromulgated ponencia of Justice Reyes, which has not been signed by the Chief Justice, is part of the confidential internal deliberations of the Court. No copy of the unpromulgated ponencia can be released to any person outside of the en banc. Any release of a copy to the public, or to the parties, of an unpromulgated ponencia infringes on the confidential internal deliberations of the Court and constitutes contempt of court,” the SC said.

In his letter, which he reportedly circulated to reporters, Biraogo said that last October, he received a letter from an unnamed SC employee.

Attached to the letter was a decision signed by 14 Court justices which affirmed the decision of the Commission on Elections to disqualify Limkaichong on the grounds of not being a natural-born Filipino citizen.

In his letter, Biraogo also expressed suspicion that Chief Justice Puno “may have had a hand” in the irregularity as he was the only one who did not sign the July 15, 2008 decision.

However, the Court noted that while Biraogo’s accusations “are seemingly directed only against the Chief Justice, they actually impute impropriety on the other members of the En Banc for allowing or condoning the acts allegedly attributed to the Chief Justice.”

“These public accusations by a party litigant in pending cases before this Court obstruct the orderly and fair administration of justice and impair the public confidence in judicial functions,” the SC said.

In her 43-page memorandum filed with the SC last Sept. 10, Limkaichong, through her lawyer Pete Cuadra, assailed the Comelec for not taking into account the observation of the SC that concepts of citizenship have been changing towards the direction of liberalization and globalization.

Limkaichong argued that under the 1935 Constitution she could still be considered a natural born Filipino citizen as her mother was a Filipino and that she became a Filipino when she had reached the age of majority.

Limkaichong also said that she has always participated and voted in every election since having reached age of majority.

Meanwhile, Puno received support from “running priest” Robert Reyes as he is faced with rumors of possible impeachment from the Court.

Puno also received separate manifestos of support from the Philippine Judges Association, the Regional Trial Court of Manila, and the Las Piñas City Judges Association.