Supreme Court pinaboran ang QC court ruling para ipagpatuloy ang damage suit laban kay Antonio Trillanes

The Supreme Court has denied the petition of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV who was asking to reverse the decision of Quezon City court to continue the damage suit against him.

A damage suit was filed by a businessman accused by Trillanes of being a “dummy” of former Vice President Jejomar Binay in purchase of a 150-hectare property in Rosario, Batangas.


A 22-page decision written by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, the Supreme Court’s First Division junked the petition filed by the senator, seeking to reverse the ruling made by Judge Evangeline Castillo-Marigomen of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 101, on May 2015 and December 2015.

According to the SC, there is a sufficient standards and guidelines that has been set in its previous decisions by which the trial court and the Court of Appeals (CA) can resolve the issue of parliamentary immunity raised by the senator.


The SC agrees that Trillanes’ petition is lack of merit.

Also, the highest court held that the statements made by Trillanes in media interviews are not covered by the parliamentary speech or debate privilege.

The Supreme Court also pointed out that the parliamentary non-accountability cannot be invoked when the lawmaker’s speech is made outside hearings, sessions or even debates in Congress.

“The statements were clearly not part of any speech delivered in the Senate or any of its committees. It cannot likewise be successfully contended that they were made in the official discharge of performance of petitioner’s duties as a senator, as the remarks were not part of or integral to the legislative process,” the SC ruling read.*


“A lawmaker’s participation in media interviews is not a legislative act, but is ‘political in nature,’ outside the ambit of the immunity conferred under the Speech or Debate Clause in the 1987 Constitution,” the court decision noted.

Meanwhile, the Quezon City Court, denied Trillanes’ petition filed by businessman Antonio Tiu, who claims to be the owner of the property Sunchamp Real Estate Corporation (Sunchamp), who was accused by Trillanes of being a “dummy”.

As stated on Tiu’s complaint against Trillanes, his reputation was tarnished, and his business got affected and stocks rocketed down.


Tiu denied that he was a dummy of Binay, and reiterated that he has financial capacity to fund the development and operation of the “Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park.”

The Supreme Court also junked the petition of Trillanes’ motion for reconsideration.

Loading...