Trillanes names justices involved in TRO ‘sale’

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. Photo courtesy of Trillanes’ Facebook page.

MANILA — Senator Antonio Trillanes IV named two associate justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) who allegedly received money to stop the suspension of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.

Trillanes accused CA Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta of receiving P25 million each.

The two justices were named in Senate Resolution 1265 filed by Trillanes on Monday.

The resolution aims the conduct of an investigation of the alleged system of “justice for sale” at the CA and look into other related anomalies in the judicial department.

The direction is addressed to the committee on justice and human rights.

In the resolution, Trillanes noted how the family of Vice President Jejomar Binay bought an injunction to hinder the suspension of Mayor Binay.

Binay was placed on a 6-month preventive suspension order by the Office of the Ombudsman for his alleged involvement in the construction of the Makati City Hall 2 parking building.

“According to reliable sources privy to the matter, a lawyer by the name of Pancho Villaraza facilitated the transaction and talked to Associate Justice Reyes and Acosta, and each of them allegedly received Twenty Million Pesos (P20,000,000.00) for the TRO they issued,” Trillanes said in the resolution.

“When the Ombudsman, DILG and DOJ did not recognize the TRO, a second transaction was allegedly consummated with Associate Justices Reyes and Acosta, receiving an additional Five Million Pesos (P5,000,000.00) each upon the issuance of a writ of permanent injunction.”

“This was purportedly the reason why the concerned CA division issues the writ of preliminary injunction with undue and inordinate haste, long before its TRO is suppose to elapse,” the resolution added.