Complaint filed vs Court of Appeals justice for bias in port case

A complaint has been filed in the Office of the Ombudsman against a Court of Appeals associate justice for his alleged bias in favor of one party in the case involving the Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI).

In a 22-page complaint, One Source Port Support Services through its president, Cyrus Paul Valenzuela, alleged that Associate Justice Danton Bueser was being biased in favor of the camp of businessman Reghis Romero II.

The complaint stated that on Dec. 12, 2014, the Court of Appeals second division issued a resolution written by Bueser ordering Romero to amend his petition by impleading HCPTI as copetitioner even though Romero did not file any motion.

It added that on Jan. 5, the appeals court through Bueser issued a restraining order against the Pasig court’s ruling which was followed by a March 11 resolution by Bueser which ordered the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction that stopped Judge Rolando Mislang’s TRO and his previous orders regarding the HCPTI case.

The complainant said the March 11 order showed gross violation of existing laws and jurisprudence when it expanded the scope of the Romero’s amended petition to include other matters thus unfairly blocking One Source’s opportunity to be heard.

Then on March 19, a writ of preliminary injunction was issued by Bueser and two other justices.

One Source said in its complaint that in all the CA resolutions, Bueser remained a constant signatory despite many changes in the composition of the justices hearing the case.

“It is fairly easy to conclude that the violations of laws that resulted in the issuance of the above resolutions were perpetrated by Justice Danton Q. Bueser alone,” the complaint noted.

One Source earlier filed a motion for inhibition and voluntary disqualification of the ponente against Bueser before the CA. RC