Group urges Senate to probe one more Court of Appeals justice
The Court of Appeals. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/COURT OF APPEALS WEBSITE
The Senate should investigate a third member of the Court of Appeals (CA) for the sale of temporary restraining orders (TROs) and injunctions, a consumers group urged the Senate on Tuesday.
“We were surprised that Senator (Antonio) Trillanes (IV) identified only two justices whom he claimed were involved in corrupt practices. Other members of the CA should also be included in the investigation,” said Perfecto Tagalog, secretary general of the Coalition of Filipino Consumers (CFC), in a statement.
On Monday, Trillanes filed a resolution asking the Senate committee on justice and human rights to investigate the alleged system of “justice for sale” at the CA.
In the resolution, Trillanes claimed that Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta received P25 million each in exchange for a TRO on the suspension of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.
READ: Trillanes names 2 CA justices in Binay TRO ‘sale’
The CFC said the resolution of Trillanes was “incomplete” and urged the senator to include another member of the CA in the probe, saying the Senate investigation should not only focus on Mayor Binay’s cases.
However, the coalition did not name the third justice that it wanted probed.
The CFC earlier exposed that a CA justice received grease money in exchange for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction on a case.
READ: SC chief Sereno urged to probe justice for sale
Tagalog said if Trillanes was serious in stopping corruption in the judiciary, the Senate should also probe cases that involve businessmen who pay huge sums of money in exchange for favorable decisions.
He said the CFC was preparing cases against other justices which it would file before the Supreme Court.
