CA favors MJ appeal on P10-M damage suit

Manila, Philippines -  The Court of Appeals (CA) has nullified a Batangas court decision in connection with the P10-million damage suit filed against former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez by then justice secretary Hernando Perez for calling the latter a “legal terrorist.”

The special fifth division of the appellate court held that the lower court erred when it immediately rendered the verdict in 2005 without going to the merits of the case.

The CA directed the Batangas regional trial court (RTC) to continue hearing the case.

In granting the appeal of Jimenez, the CA held that the Batangas RTC should not have issued the ruling based on Jimenez’s failure to answer the interrogatories, considering that most of the questioning filed by Perez were the same as the allegations contained in the original complaint.

The CA ruling was penned by Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang and concurred with by Associate Justices Normandie Pizarro and Leoncia Dimagiba.

Under Section 1 of Rule 25 of the Revised Rules of Court on Interrogatories to Parties, the purpose of serving interrogatories is to elicit material and relevant facts from an adverse party.

The CA added that the trial court should have taken into consideration that Jimenez was being held in prison in Miami, Florida in the United States for federal election fraud.

It noted that based on the records of the case, it was clear that Jimenez has shown willingness to submit his answers to the written interrogatories but was prevented from doing so because of his incarceration.

Perez filed the damage suit after Jimenez called him a “legal terrorist” extorting money from businessmen.

Jimenez, Mario Crespo in real life, claimed in his privilege speech in Congress that he gave the former justice secretary $2 million in grease money to facilitate the immediate approval of the $470-million contract with Argentine firm Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona Sociedad Anonima (IMPSA) for the rehabilitation of the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan hydropower plant in Laguna.

He said the money was allegedly deposited in Perez’s account at Coutts Bank in Hong Kong.