Stop dribbling cases, SC tells litigants

FILE PHOTO: The Supreme Court building in Ermita, Manila. INQUIRER /EDWIN BACASMAS

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has issued this reminder as it affirmed the preliminary inquiry that the University of the Philippines (UP) conducted 15 years ago over the death of a student allegedly due to fraternity hazing.

In junking his petition for certiorari, the high tribunal’s Second Division said Ariel Paolo Ante “prematurely” claimed that his right to due process was violated when the UP Student Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) opened an investigation into the death of Chris Anthony Mendez in August 2007.

Mendez, then a 20-year-old graduating student, died from severe physical beatings after he allegedly underwent the initiation rites of the Sigma Rho fraternity.

The tribunal upheld the two rulings of the Court of Appeals in 2015 and 2016 overturning the decision of a Quezon City court to void the SDT proceedings.

“There was no violation of Ante’s right to due process … we fail to see how can there be a violation of Ante’s right to due process when formal proceedings are only yet to begin,” read a portion of the court’s 16-page resolution.

“As a final note, the court takes this opportunity to remind litigants that, while perfectly within their rights, (resorting) to procedural devices must be tempered, especially if the same results to unnecessary delays to the main proceedings,” it added.

The decision, written by Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, was promulgated on March 14, but was belatedly made public only on Tuesday.

—MARLON RAMOS

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