P25-M bribery claim in Binay case CA: Trillanes guilty of indirect contempt

MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals has cited Sen. Antonio Trillanes in contempt for his claim that two CA justices received P25 million each as bribes to stop the suspension of former Makati mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay over the allegedly anomalous Makati City Hall Building 2. 

In a 15-page decision obtained by The STAR, the former Special Fifth Division of the appellate court found Trillanes guilty of indirect contempt and ordered him to pay a fine of P30,000 within 10 days from receipt of notice.

The CA found merit in the petition filed by Binay in April last year and agreed that the insinuation of Trillanes that two magistrates were paid P25 million each to issue an injunction stopping Binay’s preventive suspension by the ombudsman was baseless.

The CA held that the senator’s “malicious and baseless utterances and imputations against this court and some of its justices” was a move to “abuse and interfere in the processes and proceedings of this court and tend to impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.”

The appellate court rejected Trillanes’ defense of parliamentary immunity in evading penalty for contempt of court.

He made  the bribery allegations in a media interview on April 7, 2015.

Trillanes failed to support his bribery claim with evidence, the CA said.

“From the foregoing, it is clear that the respondent was not in the exercise of his official function as a legislator when he made those imputations against this court. Accordingly, he cannot be saved by his claim of parliamentary immunity and the doctrine of absolute privileged communication,” read the ruling penned by Associate Justice Stephen Cruz.

“Needless to state, he is deemed an ordinary person when he made a baseless attack on the integrity and credibility of this court and its justices,” the CA stressed.

The CA, which conducted an internal probe on the issue, pointed out that the “malicious allegations remain baseless and unsubstantiated until now.”

It lamented that a bribery insinuation is “easy to concoct and difficult to disprove” so it requires the accuser to present a “panoply of evidence.”

The CA ruling was promulgated on May 9 and received by the parties last Friday.

Trillanes is facing a libel case filed by Binay before the Department of Justice over the bribery allegation.

The senator had accused CA Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta of receiving P25 million each in exchange for the issuance of a restraining order to stop Binay’s suspension.

Trillanes claimed that lawyer Pancho Villaraza facilitated the alleged bribery.

The CA magistrates have denied the allegation and appealed to be spared from political controversies.

Upon petition of the ombudsman, the Supreme Court has affirmed the CA order but, struck down the condonation doctrine that clears officials of administrative liabilities committed in a previous term upon reelection to office.

Trillanes, who recently accused incoming president Rodrigo Duterte of alleged hidden wealth, has left the country.