SC proclaims independence after Arroyo thanked Duterte for 2016 ruling

The Supreme Court will "always act independently" from the legislature and the executive, its spokesman said on Wednesday.

Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said he had not spoken to Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin about former president and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo thanking President Rodrigo Duterte for her acquittal of plunder charges.

"However, the public can be assured that the Supreme Court will always act independently, and free from influence from the other branches of government," Hosaka said in a statement to reporters.

"The Supreme Court is guided by the rule of law and its decisions are always based on facts, laws, and reason," he added.

Hosaka said the decisions of the Supreme Court were open to the public and it encouraged those concerned to read them so they could understand the reasons behind the rulings.

At a dinner hosted by members of the 17th Congress Tuesday night, Arroyo said Duterte "provided the atmosphere in which the Court had the freedom to acquit me of the trumped up charges my successor and your predecessor filed against me."

Voting 11-4, the High Court acquitted Arroyo of plunder in July 2016, shortly after Duterte assumed office. Though the Court is now filled with justices he chose, Duterte did not appoint Samuel Martires, his first SC appointee, until March 2017. Martires is now the Ombudsman.

The Court dismissed the plunder case against Arroyo in connection with the alleged misuse of P366 million in intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for insufficiency of evidence.

The justices granted her demurrer to evidence, which is a motion to dismiss the case on the basis of lack of sufficient evidence to convict the accused.

The justices who voted in favor of the case dismissal were Bersamin and associate justices Presbitero Velasco, Jr. Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta, Mariano Del Castillo, Jose Perez, Jose Mendoza, Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, and Francis Jardeleza.

Those who dissented were then-chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, and Associate Justices Benjamin Caguioa
and Marvic Leonen. —NB, GMA News