Meralco ruling: CA justice dares foes to lodge complaint

MANILA, Philippines - Embattled Court of Appeals magistrate Vicente Roxas on Wednesday broke his silence and challenged those who are accusing him of committing irregularities when he penned a ruling favoring the Lopez-owned firm Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to file an administrative complaint against him. He was referring to Justices Jose Sabio and Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal, who had questioned their exclusion from the body that ruled on Meralco’s case when it was they who first took cognizance of the case as members of the CA’s Special Former Ninth Division. The two justices claimed that they were not informed about the questionable transfer of the case to the Eighth Division under Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes. In its July 23 ruling, the CA Eight Division declared null and void the undated cease-and-desist order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enjoining Meralco from validating the proxy votes in favor of the Lopez group during the power firm’s stockholders meeting last May 27. The CA’s Eight Division also held that the complaint filed by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) before the SEC is considered an election contest and an intra-corporate controversy which should be lodged before the regional trial court. Roxas was part of the Ninth Division until reorganization within the appellate court resulted in his transfer to the Eighth Division. Being the designated ponente, the Meralco case went with him in accordance to CA rules. A special en banc session is scheduled Thursday to thresh out the issue and reconcile the squabbling magistrates. The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) had earlier questioned the “mysterious and sudden transfer of the case," saying it was originally raffled and heard by the members of the CA’s Special Ninth Division composed of Roxas, Vidal and Sabio, as acting chairman. Roxas claimed the reorganization, which was made in line with the Internal Rule of the Court of Appeals (IRCA), ensured transparency since two new members -- Associate Justices Bienvenido Reyes and Apolinario Bruselas – were also reassigned to compose the Eight Division. “After the July 4, 2008 reorganization, therefore, there was no basis for Justices Sabio and Vidal of the disbanded Special 9th Division to break the IRCA rule and the tradition of transparency by clinging on to the Meralco case since the 8th Division already took over the case when the ponente joined the 8th division," he added. Roxas further explained the IRCA does not require that the justices who issued the temporary restraining order (TRO) be the same justices to render the decision and the justices who heard the case need not be the justices to decide the case. Due to the reorganization among the division members, Reyes, who was returning as chair of the Eighth Division, and Roxas remained with the Eighth Division to rule on the merits of the case, along with new member Bruselas. - GMANews.TV