Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
Citing reliable sources, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV accused Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta of receiving a total of P25 million each to stop the suspension of Makati City Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.
Trillanes named the two in Senate Resolution 1265 he filed on Monday, directing the Senate committee on justice and human rights to investigate the alleged system of “justice for sale” at the CA and elsewhere, and other related anomalies in the judiciary.
READ: Trillanes to name CA justices in alleged payoff to stop Binay’s suspension
The resolution cited recent allegations that the family of Vice President Jejomar Binay bought an injunction from the CA to stop the suspension of Mayor Binay in connection with the allegedly anomalous construction of the Makati City Hall 2 parking building.
“According to reliable sources privy to the matter, a lawyer by the name of Pancho Villaraza facilitated the transaction and talked to Associate Justice Reyes and Acosta, and each of them allegedly received Twenty Million Pesos (P20,000,000.00) for the TRO they issued,” Trillanes said in the resolution.
The TRO was the temporary restraining order issued by CA Justices Reyes, Acosta and Eduardo Peralta Jr. last April 6, 2015 on the preventive suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman against the mayor.
“When the Ombudsman, DILG and DOJ did not recognize the TRO, a second transaction was allegedly consummated with Associate Justices Reyes and Acosta, receiving an additional Five Million Pesos (P5,000,000.00) each upon the issuance of a writ of permanent injunction.”
“This was purportedly the reason why the concerned CA division issues the writ of preliminary injunction with undue and inordinate haste, long before its TRO is suppose to elapse,” the resolution added.
The resolution noted that based on published reports, Villaraza, was a personal counsel of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Villaraza was also known as a big time political contributor, having personally contributed some P30 million to the campaign of Arroyo in 2004, it further said.
The CA and Villaraza are expected to issue separate statements on the claims of Trillanes.