Speaker Alvarez threatens to dissolve Court of Appeals

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

After calling the three members of the Court of Appeals (CA), who ordered the release of six Ilocos Norte officials and employees from detention at the House of Representatives, ignorant of the law and idiots, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez threatened to have the justices disbarred and to dissolve the country’s second highest tribunal altogether.

“They are not even our coequal branch,” Alvarez said in a radio interview on Friday.

“They only exist because they were created by Congress. Any time, we can dissolve them. So they better start thinking,” he added.

The three Associate Justices of the CA Special Fourth Division—Stephen Cruz, Edwin Sorongon and Nina Antonino-Valenzuela—granted the habeas corpus petition of the “Ilocos Six,” who had been held in contempt by the House.

The court ordered them released on bail but the House has rebuffed the CA’s June 9 order three times.

“That’s really gross ignorance of the law. That is why I will not honor their order to [allow the six] to post bail,” Alvarez said, adding that he would take responsibility for the House’s refusal to release the six.

In a text message to reporters earlier in the week, Alvarez said: “Mga gago ’yang tatlong justices na ’yan (Those three justices are idiots)!”

The six were cited for contempt and ordered detained by Alvarez for allegedly refusing to answer questions during a House inquiry into the alleged irregular procurement of P66.45-million worth of vehicles by the provincial government.

“For me, they have no jurisdiction over us. Who are they to dictate Congress on what to do? We have rights that have been upheld by the Supreme Court a number of times,” Alvarez said.

Pedro Agcaoili, chair of the bids and awards committee and provincial planning and development officer, provincial budget officer Evangeline Tabulog, provincial treasurer Josephine Calajate, accountant Eden Battulayan and treasury office staff Genedine Jambaro and Encarnacion Gaor, have been detained since May 29.

Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who visited them on Thursday, said several had fallen ill.

None of the three justices commented on Alvarez’s statements.

Lawyer Oscar Franklin Tan, a legal commentator and Inquirer columnist, said he did not believe Congress could outrightly dissolve the CA.

He cites Section 2, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, which says that Congress has the power to “define, prescribe and apportion the jurisdiction of the various courts but may not deprive the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over cases” enumerated in the charter and that “no law shall be passed reorganizing the judiciary when it undermines the security of tenure of its members.”

The CA was created by Commonwealth Act No. 3 passed in December 1935. Over the years, subsequent laws expanded the bench from the original 11 to 69 justices, distributed among 23 divisions.

Alvarez said Valenzuela should have inhibited herself “out of delicadeza” for being married to a former associate of Estelito Mendoza, the counsel for the Ilocos Six.

He also said the discussion of the case should be restricted to its merits, not to the political feud between the Marcoses and Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.

It was Fariñas who called for an inquiry into the alleged irregular vehicle purchases. He has said Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos was directly involved in the alleged anomaly.