Malaya publisher faces contempt over SC bribery columns

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered Malaya publisher and columnist Amado “Jake” Macasaet to explain in writing why he should not be cited for indirect contempt of court following his exposes on the alleged bribery try on a Supreme Court justice.

In a one-page order, the High Court said that upon evaluation of Macasaet’s “Business Circuit” columns published on Sept. 18, 19, 20 and 21, “certain statements and innuendoes” tend to “impede, obstruct or degrade” the administration of justice under Section 3 (d), Rule 71 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.

“Wherefore, Amado P. Macasaet is ordered to explain why no sanction should be imposed on him for indirect contempt of court in accordance with Section 3 (d) of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, within five days from receipt hereof,” the Court said.

Under the Rules of Civil Procedure, if the respondent is adjudged guilty of indirect contempt committed against a Regional Trial Court or a court of equivalent or higher rank, he may be punished by a fine not exceeding thirty thousand pesos or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both.

Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez said the order on Macasaet to explain marks the start of the Court’s investigation on the alleged bribery try.

“The Court will act accordingly based on the explanations of Mr. Macasaet,” he said.

Marquez said the Court is not mounting a cover-up of the allegation by focusing on Macasaet.

“Not at all. His charges have to be substantiated. This is part of the investigation. It was just a mere allegation that there was a payoff,” he said.

According to Marquez, the Court wants Macasaet to explain what he wrote in his columns in the wake of a denial issued by Cecilia Delis, the supposed secretary of the justice whom he had tagged as the supposed recipient of the P10 million payoff.

The identity of the justice was later revealed by Newsbreak online magazine as Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares Santiago.

In his “Business Circuit” column, Macasaet wrote how  Delis was said to have  picked-up five gift-wrapped boxes containing P10 million from the SC’s guardhouse.

Macasaet wrote that Delis discovered the money when she opened one of the boxes, thinking that it contained perishable items.

As a result of the discovery, Macasaet said Delis was fired by her boss.

Following the published stories and columns, Justice Santiago then called on the Tribunal to conduct an investigation.

Delis had earlier submitted her affidavit at the SC denying that she was the secretary being referred to by Macasaet in his columns.

In her letter to Macasaet dated Sept. 21, 2007, Delis also clarified that she resigned from her job as a judicial staff officer of the SC’s Presidential Electoral Tribunal last March 15 and was not fired as a secretary as reported in the columns.

Newsbreak reported that the alleged payoff may have to do with two cases of which Justice Santiago penned the decision. One is the Piatco case, wherein Santiago ordered the dismissal of the graft case against Henry Go, the former chair and president of the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc (Piatco), in connection with the voided contract to build the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 – reversing an earlier Supreme Court decision.

The other case, pending before the Supreme Court, reportedly has to do with a dispute over an estimated P1.7-billion, 34-hectare prime property in Quezon City.

Santiago wrote a decision in December 2005 in favor of the new claimants, heirs of Homer Barque, invalidating the title of the long-time settlers, the Manotoks.

Marquez stressed that the Court’s order on Macasaet should not be interpreted as sending a “chilling effect” on media practitioners.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the alleged smear campaign against the magistrate could be part of a plot involving a colleague in the SC, whose previous law firm was known to be interested in the Quezon City land dispute assigned to the justice.

Santiago vowed to name the male SC justice after getting more facts about the case and may even initiate a Senate investigation into the alleged wrongdoings in the judiciary.      

“I am not related to Justice Santiago, but I’ve personally known her since our UP college days. She’s impeccably honest, and a very religious widow who keeps to herself. She’s being pressured to inhibit herself in this case,” she said. – With Aurea Calica