Court finds Trillanes guilty of contempt over bribery claims

The Court of Appeals (CA) has found Sen. Antonio Trillanes guilty of indirect contempt of court over allegations that magistrates were bribed to favor dismissed Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.

As punishment, the senator was fined P30,000 which he has to pay within 10 days from receipt of the decision.

In a 15-page decision, the CA said Trillanes failed to show that he was in exercise of his official function as senator when he accused Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Francisco Acosta of receiving P25 million each in bribe to restrain Binay’s preventive suspension.

The CA branded the accusations as malicious, baseless, unsubstantiated, saying his position as senator is not enough to “exculpate him from liability.”

The appeals court said Trilllanes failed to present a “panoply of evidence” to support his claims, and relied only on “uncorroborated and independent statements.”

The CA said Trillanes cannot invoke his parliamentary immunity and doctrine of absolutely privileged communication as defense, adding that he is not above the law.

“He cannot escape liability for making an attack on the integrity and credibility of the justices of the Court of Appeals which tend to degrade the dignity of this Court and erode public confidence that should be accorded to it,” read the decision.

The CA said that although Trillanes was a senator when he answered questions from the media about the supposed bribery, there was neither a formal session nor Senate investigation at that time.

The CA noted that Trillanes’ subsequent move to have the Senate investigate the bribery allegations was merely an afterthought to justify his claims.

In a statement, Trillanes insisted that he was merely performing his duty as a senator "in exposing corruption in government."

"More importantly, the allegation was not made through a press statement but was, in fact, the principal subject of a Senate resolution calling for a legislative inquiry," the seantors said.

He said he will appeal the decision before the Supreme Court. —ALG, GMA News