Imee, Ilocos 6 seek immediate SC action on TRO

The camp of Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and the six detained officials of her province yesterday called on the Supreme Court (SC) to act on their urgent petitions against the House of Representatives’ inquiry on the capitol’s alleged misuse of tobacco excise tax funds.

In a statement issued by their lawyer Vicentito Lazo, Marcos and the so-called Ilocos 6 appealed to the high court not to be influenced by threats issued by House leaders against judicial actions on their investigation into the allegedly anomalous purchase of P66.45 million worth of motor vehicles by the provincial government.

“Under the rules of the Supreme Court, the writ of amparo should be issued immediately if, upon its face, there is a ground for its issuance. Unfortunately, the justice in charge and two others have inhibited from the case, so no action has been taken on our petition,” Lazo said.

“But where else would aggrieved Filipinos turn to if not the Supreme Court as the bastion of people’s rights and defender of the rule of law? My clients worry that with this delay, they will continue to languish in detention. Where else can they get relief? Their right to liberty has already been trampled upon. Our prayer is for the Supreme Court to issue the writ of amparo immediately,” the lawyer appealed.

Their camp reiterated the SC rules on writ of amparo, which require immediate action on petitions and mandate the Court to quickly remand the case to the Court of Appeals (CA) for hearing.

Section 6 of the Rules of Writ of Amparo provides: “Upon the filing of the petition, the court, justice or judge shall immediately order the issuance of the writ if on its face it ought to issue. The clerk of court shall issue the writ under the seal of the court; or in case of urgent necessity, the justice or the judge may issue the writ under his or her own hand, and may deputize any officer or person to serve it. The writ shall also set the date and time for summary hearing of the petition which shall not be later than seven (7) days from the date of its issuance.”

The high court was supposed to tackle the case in regular session last Tuesday, but three magistrates decided to inhibit from the petition – including the justice to whom the case was assigned, prompting the justices to reset deliberations on the case to next Tuesday, July 25.

The case was raffled to Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta but he recused himself from participating in the case due for being a relative of one of the respondents, House majority leader and Ilocos Norte first district Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and newly appointed Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr. also inhibited from the case after earlier issuing a joint statement calling on the House committee on good government and public accountability to recall its show cause order against the three CA justices who ordered the release of the Ilocos 6.

“We are hoping that whoever gets our petition, the case will already move forward,” Lazo added.