SC junks Calida suit vs. Trillanes for being ‘moot’

MANILA -- The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed for being moot, a petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida and his family against former senator Antonio Trillanes IV in connection with a Senate inquiry.

In a 10-page resolution dated September 3 and made available to the public on Friday, the High Court said it can no longer rule on the suit, which sought to stop a legislative inquiry on government contracts supposedly awarded to a security services company of the Calida family.

Trillanes was being sued as then chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation.

“With the closing of the 17th Congress, the investigation into Proposed Senate Resolution No. 760 automatically ceased, rendering this case moot as the conflicting issue that may be resolved by the court ceased to exist,” the court en banc, through Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, said.

“This court also takes judicial notice that respondent Trillanes has reached the end of his two-year term as senator. Thus, petitioners’ prayer for this court to permanently prohibit from conducting an investigation into their supposed conflict of interest has likewise been rendered moot,” it added.

In a 39-page petition for certiorari and prohibition with urgent application for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or preliminary injunction filed on August 14, Calida asked the High Court to issue a TRO on the conduct of a legislative inquiry into the alleged conflict of interest in his stock ownership of Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency, Inc., which has multimillion-peso contracts with several government offices.

Calida also asked the SC to declare as “void and unconstitutional” Trillanes’ letters inviting him and his family to the Senate as they were “issued in respondent’s sole capacity only or without the authority of the Senate or any of its Committees.”