Carpio denies allegations of impropriety

MANILA, Philippines - Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has denied allegations of impropriety leveled against him by a losing litigant who objected to his nomination for chief justice before the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

In a five-page letter to the JBC, Carpio answered charges of businessman Delfin Cruz who accused him of conduct “unbecoming of a member of the Supreme Court” and still acting and thinking like a partner of his former law office (Villaraza and Angangco Law Office).”

Cruz questioned why Justice Carpio did not inhibit himself from their administrative complaint against Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Cesar Untalan who countermanded a ruling of a Quezon City RTC already affirmed by the High Court, in favor of the law office’s client La Savoie Development Corp.

The businessman who owns Buenavista Properties, Inc. also alleged that an executive of La Savoie, Jeanne Menguito, “is a good friend of Justice Carpio and his wife, also a Vietnamese like Mrs. Menguito.”

But Carpio said there was no ground for his inhibition –- either mandatory or voluntary – in the case against Judge Untalan because his former firm “was never a counsel for any of the parties in the administrative case.”

“I do not personally know Judge Untalan. I do not personally know Mrs. Menguito or her husband. I have not met or talked to Mrs. Menguito or her husband. My wife tells me that she recalls meeting Mrs. Menguito only once, and that was more than 15 years ago,” the justice stressed.

Carpio is the working chair of the first division of the SC that issued resolution last July 6 dismissing the administrative complaint against Judge Untalan for supposed corruption, ignorance of the law, and grave abuse of discretion.

Ateneo Law, CEG on CJ appointment

The student council of the Ateneo Law School, alma mater of Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Renato Corona who has also been nominated for the chief justice post, has issued a statement opposing the appointment of a new chief justice by President Arroyo.

The students called on the President’s “sound judgment and prudence in deferring the appointment of the next chief justice and allowing the next president-elect to make the said decision.”

“The rule of law must be upheld and respected; no one is above the law and the Constitution, not even the President. Our institutions, especially the Judiciary, must be insulated from partisan politics,” the statement said, adding that Mrs. Arroyo “must show that she is a president bent on protecting and promoting our democracy and our democratic institutions.”

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines also issued a statement on the controversy, saying they “are one with the groups and individuals vehemently opposing any attempt of the administration to bend the law by appointing a new chief justice.”

“With regard to the issue of possible failure of elections that the Supreme Court (SC) is expected to decide upon, we maintain that the Associate Justices can deliberate a sound ruling, and having an acting CJ doesn’t diminish the accuracy of a needed decision.

“The absence of a chief justice does not prejudice public service or endanger public safety. Let us not forget: the associate justices aren’t part of the SC for nothing.” 

The student journalists further stated, “We deem this issue as another political maneuver of the current leadership, an administration that is known for its notorious record of corruption, human rights violations and scores of scandals, to save itself from deluge of cases that await Mrs. Arroyo once her political immunity expires.”

Meanwhile, Edwin Lacierda, spokesman of Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Noynoy Aquino, said that administration senatorial candidate Silvestre Bello III is “barking up the wrong tree” when he said Aquino “has undermined the Supreme Court as an institution” when he said that the next chief justice, if appointed by Mrs. Arroyo, would likely be impeached.

In a statement, Lacierda said, “Someone should point out to Bello that he has just called the noted constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas ignorant. At the Supreme Court Appointments Watch Forum a month ago, Fr. Bernas was quoted saying: ‘Whoever accepts an appointment that is unconstitutional becomes an accomplice in the unconstitutional act. That becomes a culpable violation of the Constitution which can be a subject of an impeachment.’

“Furthermore, Bernas said that under the Constitution, an incumbent president is barred from making midnight appointments two months before the next presidential elections.”

Lacierda added that “Bello, like his president, has been rendered ignorant by desperation.

Earlier, Corona was also accused by lawyer Fernando Campos of impropriety for chairing the division that dismissed the certiorari case the lawyer filed against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and PhilWeb Corp. over the operation of online cockfight betting, arguing it was a unanimous decision of members of then first division of the Supreme Court.

Corona already denied the charges, but questioned where the information came from and cited possible violation of confidentiality rule by another magistrate that he did not name.

Carpio reacted, denying leaking the information and seeking an investigation by the full court into the issue.

Last Friday, another lawyer protested the nomination of Justice Carpio for the chief justice post.

Citing the “decision of the SC in the matter of the inquiry into the 1989 elections of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines,” lawyer Joel Obar accused the senior magistrate of being “one of the conspirators who treated the sanctity of IBP elections in 1989 with ignominy.”

Another objection to the candidacy of Carpio was submitted to the JBC by Col. Brigido Mesina Jr., member of the advisory council of Transparency International Philippines and owner of King’s Court Consultants Co., who alleged that the senior magistrate should have inhibited himself in a case involving his company against a construction firm.                             – Edu Punay