Brillantes not for Chief Justice’s inhibition from Arroyo cases

MANILA, Philippines—Commission on Elections chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. has said Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona should not inhibit himself from cases involving former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.

“I don’t think he should. Why should he? If he inhibits merely because he is an appointee of Ms Arroyo, then all the justices appointed by her should also inhibit. But then, the appointees of President Aquino [who vowed to prosecute Arroyo] should also inhibit. So what will happen to the Supreme Court now? All the justices are connected in one way or another to somebody,” Brillantes said.

The Comelec chair—who has been criticized along with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for leading the filing of cases against Arroyo despite the fact that both of them were opposition lawyers in the 2007 polls—said it should be up to the justices to withdraw from hearing the case.

“You have to give every justice the benefit of the doubt; that they will be very fair. This is also what they should think of me. If I feel that I should inhibit, it should be my own determination,” Brillantes said.

Brillantes, a former lawyer of Senator Aquilino Pimentel III and the late Fernando Poe Jr., who both accused the Arroyo administration of cheating them in the 2007 and 2004 elections, said he would also have inhibited himself from the Comelec’s determination of the cases involving those responsible for the poll fraud.

“If the matters involved are things that I know of, I will inhibit. In the 2007 electoral sabotage case [of electoral sabotage filed by Comelec against Mrs. Arroyo] I didn’t know anything about what happened in Malacañang [where one witness said Arroyo ordered the cheating operations]. For the 2004 case, we just have to see the merits. What are the issues to be raised? If I know about things related to the case, then I’ll inhibit,” he said.

In judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, the only reason why one should inhibit would be relations or relationship with any of the parties, Brillantes said.