Another appellate justice opts out of Junjun Binay’s case

Suspended Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

Another justice has inhibited herself from handling one of suspended Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay’s cases at the Court of Appeals, citing her overlapping role as one of the magistrates investigating bribery allegations against her fellow justices who stopped the first suspension order against the mayor.

The court’s Fifth Division Associate Justice Ma. Luisa Cruz Quijano-Padilla has recused herself from the contempt case Binay filed against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who accused the mayor of paying off two justices of the Sixth Division in exchange for a favorable ruling.

In her letter to the court, Padilla cited her role as one of the justices tasked to investigate the ethics case in her decision to voluntarily inhibit from the contempt case.

Ethics probe

“The undersigned voluntarily inhibits herself from further participating in the above mentioned case being a designated member… [of] the body tasked to conduct an investigation on the allegations of ‘justice for sale,’” said Padilla.

This prompted the division to reset oral arguments on the case supposedly scheduled yesterday. Associate Justice Stephen Cruz has moved the proceedings to Nov. 12 and appointed Associate Justice Ramon Garcia to replace Padilla.

“It is impossible for the undersigned to isolate the instant case in the course of her participation in the committee’s (committee on ethics and special concerns) activities and endeavors. Necessarily, the undersigned’s acts in performing her duties as member of the committee may well impinge on perceptions of impartiality and fairness in the resolution of this case.” Padilla said

Cruz cited Padilla’s letter in his three-page resolution postponing yesterday’s hearing.

Bribery allegation

“This voluntary inhibition will foster at the least the appearance, if not the actuality, of impartiality and independence in hearing and deciding this case,” Padilla said.

Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. had tasked the court’s committee on ethics and special concerns to investigate the bribery allegations, appointing Padilla as among new members of the five-person body in May following the inhibition of three magistrates for conflict of interest.

Under the committee’s investigation are allegations contained in a Senate resolution that Trillanes filed in April, where he accused Binay of paying Sixth Division Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta P50 million to secure a stop order against the Ombudsman’s first suspension order against him.

The division issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) and, later, a writ of preliminary injunction against the order for Binay’s preventive suspension while the Ombudsman investigated his role in the alleged overpricing of the P2.3-billion Makati City Hall Building II.

Binay separately filed libel charges against Trillanes for the allegations. The case is under preliminary investigation at the Department of Justice.

Binay failed to stop the second suspension order against him, this time for his alleged role in the supposed bid rigging for the construction of the 10-story Makati Science High School building.

The mayor stepped down on July 1, after failing to immediately secure a TRO from the Ninth Division, where he filed a petition to stop his second preventive suspension. Three magistrates earlier inhibited themselves from this case for various reasons.