CA appoints new magistrates to look into Binay’s case

Court of Appeals (judiciary.gov.ph)

MANILA – Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s corruption allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay will be investigated by a new team of magistrates appointed by the Court of Appeals (CA).

Visayas Executive Justice Gabriel Ingles, Mindanao Executive Justice Romulo Borja, and Associate Justice Maria Luisa Padilla are the new members of the CA Ethics Committee.

The new set of magistrates is formed after the previous regular members of the committee had all inhibited from the probe.

CA Justice and Ethics Committee Chairperson Marifor Punzalan-Castillo and Justice Jane Lantion are wedding sponsors of Vice President Binay’s child.

Justice Francisco Acosta, on the other hand, is the subject of the bribery case. Lastly, Justice Manuel Barrios and Franchito Diamante are closely associated with both parties in the case.

Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. had assigned the previous team of magistrates to investigate on Trillanes’ claim that CA Justices Jose Reyes and Acosta had been bribed by Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a writ of preliminary injunction on the preventive suspension order issued by the Ombudsman on him, his father, and their purported ‘dummies.’

The Ombudsman earlier issued the preventive suspension order against the Binays and their allies in relation to the overpriced Makati City Hall Building II.