Supreme Court tells judge to justify TRO favoring Lee

The Supreme Court has directed a Pasig City judge to “explain the propriety” of his decision to temporarily stop the Department of Justice (DOJ) from pursuing a criminal complaint against Delfin Lee, owner of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp.

Jose Midas Marquez, the high court’s spokesperson and administrator, said he gave Judge Rolando Mislang of the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 167 a nonextendible deadline of 10 days to justify his issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of Lee.

As court administrator, Marquez has supervisory authority over all court judges and justices under the Supreme Court.

“I have received various information regarding the Globe Asiatique case. I have required Judge Mislang to explain the propriety of his issuance of the TRO,” Marquez said in a text message.

He said he was expecting a written explanation from Mislang within the week.

Railroading TRO

Marquez said he had taken the initiative to order Mislang to explain after the judge was accused by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday of “railroading” the granting of a 20-day TRO, which stymied the criminal prosecution of Lee.

The DOJ Task Force on Business Scam approved on Aug. 24 the filing of a syndicated estafa case against Lee, his son Dexter and three others in connection with the questionable P6.65 billion in loans that the Home Development Mutual Fund, also known as Pag-Ibig Fund, granted to “ghost borrowers.”

Pampanga housing

The loan applicants were allowed to buy units in Globe Asiatique’s housing projects in Pampanga despite using spurious documents.

Former Vice President Noli de Castro could also be held liable for approving the huge loans for Globe Asiatique when he was the chair of Pag-Ibig Fund, according to Senator Sergio Osmeña III.

De Castro said he was ready to face an investigation in connection with the loan scandal.

No bail

In issuing the resolution against Lee, his son and the three others, Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva did not recommend bail for the temporary freedom of the accused, who may face life imprisonment if found guilty.

To block the filing of the case, Lee’s lawyers asked Mislang on August 26 to immediately issue a TRO without them presenting an official copy of the DOJ resolution to the judge.

“How could the judge determine the merits of the TRO (without reading the DOJ resolution)? So it’s really very questionable,” De Lima lamented at a news briefing on Thursday.

“How can the parties involved, both the OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) and Lee’s counsel, intelligently argue their position when they have yet to see a copy of the resolution?” she added.

Highly suspicious

De Lima said the haste with which the TRO was released was highly suspicious because it was issued even before the department had given official copies of the resolution to the parties involved.

“There is really something irregular with what happened,” De Lima said of Mislang’s decision. “For me, there was railroading there.”

The justice secretary also surmised that Lee’s lawyers “obviously had advance information” that the DOJ would issue an adverse resolution against their client.

“That’s why they were able to prepare their amended petition and file it on the same day that we announced that there was already a resolution,” she said.

Administrative rap

Marquez confirmed that Mislang was also the subject of an administrative complaint in the Supreme Court filed by executives of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Mislang reportedly ordered the arrest of the GSIS officials in connection with a case filed against the previous management of the state-owned pension fund.

Sought for comment, De Lima thanked Marquez for promptly acting on the matter.

However, she said the DOJ, through the OSG, was still inclined “to lodge an administrative complaint” against Mislang.

“Based on the information (I received), there seems to be a pattern of questionable acts in other cases on the part of the said judge,” De Lima said.

Original posted: 3:50 pm | Sunday, September 4th, 2011