Binay camp questions transfer to DOJ of libel suit vs Trillanes

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Binay camp questions transfer to DOJ of libel suit vs Trillanes
The Makati prosecutor inhibits from the libel complaint filed by the mayor against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and passes it on to the justice department

MANILA, Philippines – The camp of suspended Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr doubted the impartiality of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in handling the libel complaint they filed against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

On Wednesday, August 5, Binay’s legal counsel Claro Certeza questioned the DOJ’s ability to handle their case fairly, following the decision of the Office of the Makati City Prosecutor to inhibit itself from hearing the libel complaint and to pass the case on to the DOJ.

Binay filed the libel suit against Trillanes before the Office of the Makati City Prosecutor on April 13. It was the same day the senator alleged that two justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) Sixth Division received a total of P50 million from Binay to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a writ of preliminary injunction on the Ombudsman’s preventive suspension order against the Makati mayor.

The CA has since denied Trillanes’ allegations, calling his claims as “baseless” and a form of harassment.

Trillanes, in an April 8 interview aired in several radio and television programs and quoted in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, also called the Binays “a mafia family.”

“This family appears to be a mafia family. All of them are involved in anomalies. When Mayor Binay was a councilor, he was part of this. Even Mrs Binay has a case, and now father and son. That is the context. If Vice President Binay becomes president, his entire family, even his in-laws, will be part of a syndicate,” Trillanes said.

Certeza doubted the DOJ’s impartiality knowing that the department is helmed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

De Lima, who is expected to run as senator under the administration’s Liberal Party in 2016, said that the TRO which the CA granted to Binay in March was already “moot and academic.”

“It is very clear that the present government is against Binay and all the resources of the government is being used [against him]. So it is very suspicious that they would insist that the DOJ should handle the case,” Certeza told reporters after the preliminary investigation in the DOJ’s headquarters in Manila.

‘Favorable decision’

Trillanes’ lawyer Judy Ann Bautista, however, thinks otherwise.

We believe na makakakuha kami ng mas magandang favorable decision if [the complaint] is transferred at the DOJ (We believe that we will be able to get a favorable decision if the complaint is transferred at the DOJ),” she said.

Trillanes sought the inhibition of the Office of the Makati City Prosecutor as the Makati City government provides allowances as well as administrative, logistical, and personnel support to the city’s judiciary and prosecutorial offices.

During the preliminary investigation on the libel complaint, however, Certeza asked state prosecutor Gilmarie Fe Pacamara to halt the proceedings while their motion to reconsider the Office of the Makati City Prosecutor’s decision is still pending.

According to Section 57 of the 2008 Manual for Prosecutors, mandatory inhibition will be ordered if the prosecutor, or his or her spouse or child, is an interested party in the case, related to either party to the case by affinity or related to the counsel, and has been named executor, administrator, guardian, or trustee of a party to the case.

Both Binay and Trillanes failed to appear during the scheduled preliminary investigation and were only represented by their respective lawyers. – Mara Cepeda/Rappler.com

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