Carpio: Torre requires lower court trial

Torre de Manila obstructs the skyline view behind the iconic Rizal Monument in Luneta Park (Bernard Testa / Facebook)

MANILA — Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Tuesday that the Supreme Court can either remand the case of Torre de Manila to a lower court or dismiss it.

Carpio made the statement on Tuesday’s oral argument on the case filed by the Order of the Knights of Rizal (KofR) against DMCI Project Developers Inc.

Carpio questioned the filing of the case in the Supreme Court instead of filing it before the lower court.

“This requires a trial. Before you come here, you must have presented your case before a trial court. You are reversing the process. We have never done this. We have never received evidence here. We can remand this to the Court of Appeals or you can refile it before the proper trial court,” Carpio said.

Atty. William Jasarino, counsel of KofR’s argued that the hierarchy of courts can admit exceptions “including matters of transcendental importance.”

“You are asking us to take a liberal view about standing on the ground of transcendental importance,” Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza said.

“You will concede that not all heritage cases have transcendental importance,” he added.

KofR’s counsel also said that Rizal Park represents the nation’s soul.

Responding to this, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said “for you to tell us that the Rizal monument is the soul of the nation and we should put that in jurisprudence. We cannot do that.”

“The Supreme Court does not have the capacity to say that this is the soul of the nation…It is tyrannical of the Court to establish the narrative of the nation,” Leonen added.

The oral arguments will, meanwhile, resume on August 4.