SENATOR Antonio Trillanes IV should shed his parliamentary immunity, and reiterate his allegations before them, Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) National President Vicente Joyas said Monday.
“The IBP will hold a meeting. We will invite all those who claim corruption in the judiciary. We will invite Senator Trillanes too,” Joyas said.
“When he made that allegation of corruption before the Senate, he is shielded with parliamentary immunity, so para equal footing, we are going to invite them…Kung merong ebidensya, idemanda. Kung wala, itigil na ang insinuation kasi masisira ang Judiciary as an institution,” Joyas added.
Trillanes, speaking at the Senate, identified Court of Appeals Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta of receiving P25-million bribe money to rule in favor of stopping the implementation of the six months suspension of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.
A speech of a lawmaker with parliamentary immunity is not actionable criminally or in disciplinary proceedings under the Rules of Court.
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.
But Joyas pointed out that the Senate has no jurisdiction to investigate the Justices.
“The Supreme Court only has jurisdiction to handle the complaints,” he said.
He added that the IBP is bothered by the allegations of corruption in the Judiciary.
“The lawyers are affected by this allegation [because] the members of the judiciary are all lawyers,” Joyas said.
“If he has evidence, we will help him [but] it has to be a hard evidence, not hearsay,” Joyas said.
IBP is the official organization of all Philippine lawyers whose names appear in the Roll of Attorneys of the Supreme Court. AC