Palace backs De Lima in contempt case

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino’s spokesperson has floated a counter argument for Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, who is a facing a possible contempt citation  for openly defying a Supreme Court temporary restraining order.

Lawyer Edwin Lacierda used his Twitter account on Saturday to defend the embattled De Lima, who ordered immigration and airport officials to bar former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from leaving the country earlier this week despite the TRO.

The high court on Friday ordered De Lima to explain within 10 days why she should not be cited in  indirect contempt for defying the order. The charge carries a fine of not more than P30,000 or an imprisonment of up to six months or both.

Lacierda argued that the Supreme Court had put conditions on the TRO, which Arroyo had supposedly failed to fully comply with.

“If (the) TRO was issued by (the) SC with conditions and (the) conditions were not complied with, how can it be immediately executory? And if TRO was not immediately executory, how can (Secretary) De Lima be held in contempt as prayed for by the Arroyos when there was no effective TRO?” he tweeted to his 10,750 followers in the popular micro-blogging site.

Replying to another Twitter account, he said: “She didn’t defy (the TRO) and there was nothing to defy in the first place since the TRO was ineffective.”

Voting 8-5, the high court on Tuesday issued a TRO, which, in effect, allowed Arroyo to seek medical treatment abroad. But the following conditions were set—Arroyo and her husband should post a P2-million cash bond, appoint a legal representative, and inform the Philippine embassy or consulate in the country they intended to visit.

Lacierda cited the dissenting opinion of Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, who castigated court spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez for allegedly “interpreting” the ruling of the high tribunal.

Sereno said it was the “understanding of the majority that the TRO is suspended pending compliance. While Arroyo’s camp immediately posted the cash bond late Tuesday, it apparently failed to appoint a legal representative.

Lacierda posted: “Contrary to Atty. Midas Marquez’s statement that (the) TRO is in full force and effect, (the) SC in a 7-6 resolution ruled (that the) TRO was ineffective.”

Lacierda was referring to the high court’s 7-6 vote on Friday declaring as “not substantial” the compliance of Ferdinand Topacio, legal counsel of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

But by the same vote, the justices resolved that there was “no need to suspend the affectivity of the TRO,” Marquez said in a press conference before a Pasay Regional Trial Court ordered Gloria Arroyo’s arrest because of an electoral sabotage indictment.

“As far as this court is concerned, because this TRO stays in effect, then the Arroyo couple can leave,” Marquez said. “So I’m calling on our executive officials. The court has already, in effect, reiterated its TRO. I hope that this [order] will be respected and complied with.”

Lacierda tweeted: “It was right for government to wait for a formal copy of the SC resolution rather than rely on the SC spokesperson, who was corrected by J(ustice) Sereno.”