MANILA: The lawyers of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay yesterday said they would elevate the issue of jurisdictional challenge before the Supreme Court.
Binay’s lawyers added that they would also ask the High Court to issue an injunction against the hearings now being conducted by a sub-committee of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee into the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building 2.
“At this point, our clients’ Constitutional rights are already at stake and are being violated. The only recourse left to us is to seek the intervention of the Judiciary. In any democracy, a person denied of his rights to due process may turn to the Supreme Court, which is the ultimate arbiter of the law,” Claro Certeza, one of Binay’s lawyers said.
Certeza said Binay’s legal team will finalise a petition at the soonest possible time and file it with the Supreme Court to seek an injunction or temporary restraining order on the ongoing inquiry being conducted by the Senate sub-committee.
Certeza said they would also refer to the resolution read by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III in yesterday’s hearing in preparing their petition to the Supreme Court.
He cited a parallel case (Neri versus Blue Ribbon Committee) in which the Supreme Court said that while the Senate has the power to conduct an inquiry, it is always limited to the extent that it should always be in aid of legislation, it is with due respect to the Constitutional rights and it is done in accordance with the published rules.
Certeza asserted that their clients were not liable for contempt as they were “merely exercising the remedies available under the Senate Rules.”
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
