Reyes asks CA to hold Roque in indirect contempt

Former Palawan Gov. Joel T. Reyes FILE PHOTO

Former Palawan governor Joel T. Reyes on Thursday asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to hold in indirect contempt presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr.

In a petition dated Jan. 10, Reyes said Roque should be cited for indirect contempt because of his “unwarranted attacks” against the court that intend to impair its independence and efficiency.

“Respondent’s attacks on the Honorable Court were unwarranted and tended to impair the Honorable Court’s independence and efficiency, as well as the public’s confidence in the Honorable Court’s honesty and integrity,” Reyes said in his 12-page petition.

Reyes said that while Roque, a former lawyer of the family of victim Gerry Ortega, claimed to speak on a personal capacity, his criticism of the decision may have a “possible influence on the public and even the courts.”

The former governor said that calling the decision allowing his release as a “travesty of justice” was an insinuation “that the Honorable Court decided the case for considerations other than the ends of justice.”

Roque was also quoted accusing the appeals court of “overruling” the Supreme Court. Reyes said such claim was “misleading.”

“If it were true that Respondent was speaking in his personal capacity, there was no reason for him to have announced that the reversal of the Honorable Court’s ruling is ‘the official position of the Duterte [administration].’ Instead, his declaration was clearly a veiled threat for the Honorable Court to decide the motion for reconsideration or whatever remedy the government will take, in its favor, otherwise the Honorable Court will be going against ‘the official position of the Duterte government,” Reyes said.

The former governor was freed from Palawan City Jail after the CA, in a ruling, found no basis for the Palawan Regional Trial Court to order his arrest or convict him for Ortega’s death.