Drilon: It’s up to CA justices to appear

Senate President Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

While Court of Appeals justices could be invited to a Senate hearing on alleged corruption in the judiciary, they should not be forced to appear if they do not wish to do so, according to Senate President Franklin Drilon.

The Senate is poised to conduct an inquiry into the supposed sale of court decisions, prompted by a resolution from Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who had alleged that two appellate court justices were bribed to stop the suspension of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay.

READ: Drilon: Senate can invite, but not force, CA justices to attend probe

In an interview over Radyo Inquirer, Drilon said it was well within the rights of a Senate committee to invite resource persons that it deems important to the subject matter it would tackle.

But interdepartmental courtesy should also be observed when it comes to court justices, he said. If an invitation is declined, he does not think the Senate should compel them to attend the hearing through a subpoena, he believes.

“As part of interdepartmental courtesy, to me, we should stop at invitation, and if they will not appear, let us leave it at that. Let us not force it,” Drilon said.

“I’m not in favor of using the coercive process of the Senate investigation to compel the attendance of these justices,” he added.

He noted that the Senate had also sent an invitation to Vice President Jejomar Binay to appear in the Blue Ribbon subcommittee probe looking into alleged irregularities in Makati City during his three terms as mayor.

The Vice President declined the invitation of the panel, which his camp had criticized for supposedly leading a farce that was intended to bring down his chances in the 2016 elections.

The subcommittee did not issue a subpoena for the Vice President after he turned down the invite.

Drilon had said at the time that he would not issue a subpoena if one was sought as a matter of respect for the Vice President’s office.