AFTER the recent Supreme Court’s decision on the cases of Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, two veteran lawyers have aired their sentiments in regard to this. Apparently, this is an attack on the integrity of the judiciary and an insult to judges.
“Let’s request the Supreme Court that maybe they can take a second look on the matter of our own circular – it seems that it has not been followed,” according to Atty. Israelito Torreon, Legal Counsel, Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday afternoon, 28th of May, the Supreme Court announced the green light on Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla’s request to transfer the cases of Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy from Davao City to Quezon City.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted the Department of Justice or DOJ’s request to avoid a ‘miscarriage of justice’.
But for Atty. Israelito Torreon – Legal Counsel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ – The Supreme Court did not follow its own rules on the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) Circular No. 162-2022a in regard to the transfer of venue of cases.
“The rules require that the petition should be filed in the court itself. And after that, the judge is required to comment on the petition while issuing an order on the parties for them to also submit their comments whether they agree or disagree on the petition for the change of venue. That’s why we waited to receive a copy of the petition. And then, all of this – the judge’s comment, the petition, and the parties’ comments would be transmitted to the Office of Court Administrator for transmission to the Supreme Court,” Atty. Torreon stated.
“What happened here, we didn’t even receive [a copy] of the petition. We didn’t officially know that there was actually such a petition. We didn’t even get to file a comment on it,” Torreon said.
Torreon added that this is an attack on the integrity of the judiciary as a whole as it tends to diminish the trust of the public in so far as the judiciary is concerned just because of petty locational issues.
SC decision an attack on judiciary integrity, insult to judges—Torreon, Panelo
Meanwhile, for former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo, the highest court’s decision is offensive for the judges in Davao City.
“If I was the judge – the judges in Davao City, I’ll feel offended by the request of this DOJ secretary. Because they are saying, yes, let’s transfer this – it has been influenced. What do you mean? If I was a judge, I would be influenced by bad things? I would be influenced by good, not by bad things. So why would you transfer that, right?” stated Atty. Salvador ‘Sal’ Panelo, Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel.
Atty. Torreon highlighted that there are several petitions filed before the Supreme Court even from a long time ago but until now, they remain pending.
Atty. Torreon also said he has experienced filing petitions like this which took at least more than a year before the Supreme Court made a decision.
Due to this, the camp of Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy will file a motion for reconsideration as there may have been a violation of due process.
