CA: Trillanes guilty of indirect contempt for bribery allegation
Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Antonio Trillanes answers questions during a one on one interview at the Philippine Daily Inquirer office in Makati City on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The Court of Appeals (CA) on Monday found Senator Antonio Trillanes IV guilty of indirect contempt for his allegations that dismissed Makati Mayor Jejomer Erwin “Junjun” Binay paid justices P50-million bribe money to stop the suspension order imposed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman.
In its 15-page order, it required Trillanes to pay P30,000 within 10 days upon receipt of the decision.
Trillanes last year alleged that Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta received P25 million each in exchange for issuing a restraining order to stop the implementation of the first preventive suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the Makati parking building controversy.
READ: CA justices: SC backing of TRO on Junjun suspension belies Trillanes bribe raps
The appeals court said Trillanes’ allegation is “malicious and baseless.”
“It is undisputed that respondent uttered malicious statements of bribery against the Court of Appeals and some of its justices,” the appeals court said.
Trillanes cited parliamentary immunity when he made the allegations as his defense.
However, the appeals court said Trillanes made the allegations of bribery during a public interview.
“Although he was a senator, and still is, there was neither a formal session nor Senate investigation at that time,” the court said.
“Also, it was undoubtedly not his sworn duty to make baseless and malicious allegations against this Court,” the court said.
It added that Trilllanes failed to present a “panoply of evidence” to support his claims and relied only on “uncorroborated and independent statements.”
The CA also noted that the filing of a Senate resolution calling for an investigation into the bribery allegation was a “mere afterthought.”
“Simply stated, he was trying to escape from the consequences of his malicious statements by making it appear that it was part of the proposed Senate investigation,” the CA said.
The former mayor filed the contempt case against the senator after he made the bribery allegations. Binay also has a separate libel case filed against the senator for the same allegation. RAM/rga
READ: Trillanes posts bail for Binay libel suit
