SC: Ex-Justice Ruben Reyes leaked Limkaichong ruling

(Updated) MANILA, Philippines – A Supreme Court investigating panel has found sufficient evidence pointing to retired Associate Justice Ruben Reyes as the one who leaked the unpromulgated decision on the citizenship case of Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong. "The committee members concluded that it was Justice Reyes himself who leaked the photocopy of the draft," SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez told reporters Tuesday, adding that the panel based its decision on circumstantial evidence. Reyes, who retired last January 3, had repeatedly denied that he was the one who leaked the decision. Earlier in the day, Reyes maintained his innocence on the leakage of the draft decision. "I don’t see why the blame should be put on me. I have the least reason why I should do that. I have the least motive," he told reporters. Reyes noted that he had served the government for almost 35 years. “I wouldn’t want a single centavo deducted from my [retirement] pay that I deserve," he said. Reyes, who had not yet seen a copy of the panel’s decision, said he will file a motion for reconsideration “if needed." Fine, disqualification In finding Reyes guilty of the leakage, the panel ordered the embattled former magistrate to pay a P500,000 penalty. He was also “perpetually disqualified" from holding any government post and was given 10 days to explain why he should not be suspended from the practice of law. Laywer Rosendo Evangelista and court stenographer Armando del Rosario, Reyes’ two staff members, were also found to have committed simple neglect of duty. The panel then ordered Evangelista to pay P10,000 and Del Rosario to pay P5,000. Marquez said the panel also found “undue haste" on the part of Reyes for penning the draft decision even if the necessary documents pertinent to the citizenship case have yet to be submitted. The SC justices also made an agreement that the promulgation of the draft ruling will have to be deferred but Reyes instead made the rounds asking the magistrates to affix their signatures on his ponencia. Biraogo The SC investigated the leakage on December 2008 after Laguna-based businessman Louis Biraogo circulated the unpromulgated decision that upheld the disqualification of Limkaichong due to citizenship questions. Biraogo is one of the litigants in the citizenship case of Limkaichong, who defeated former Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto Paras' wife - Olivia - in the 2007 elections. Chief Justice Reynato Puno subsequently created an investigating committee to determine who were responsible for the breach in the "cloak of confidentiality" of the document and to recommend appropriate actions. Biraogo had earlier questioned why the SC had not yet promulgated the decision dated July 15, 2008 despite having the signatures of 14 of the 15 High Court justices. Only Puno did not sign the draft decision. In earlier media interviews, Marquez explained that when the draft ruling reached Puno, the Chief Justice called for an oral argument and deferred the promulgation of the decision because he noticed that seven of the 14 justices concurred only in result. An “in the result" concurrence refers to agreeing to a decision on a case alone, and not on the arguments on which a decision was based on. Marquez said that two other female justices told Puno that they only made the same concurrence, bringing the number of justices who concurred “in the result" to nine. Marquez said that the draft ruling lacked doctrinal value because majority of the justices concurred only “in the result." The pending promulgation of the decision prompted Biraogo to accuse Puno of sitting on the citizenship case – an allegation that was reportedly the reason for the rumored ouster bids against the chief magistrate in January 2008. - with Carlo Lorenzo, GMANews.TV