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SC defers action on live massacre trial coverage, other controversial cases


(Updated 3:50 p.m.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to take action on controversial cases it discussed in an en banc (full court) session earlier in the day due to time constraints. Court spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez said the justices “need more time" to deliberate decisions on the following cases:
  • The legality of the President Benigno Aquino’s Executive No. 1 creating the Truth Commission, the panel tasked to look into corruption and cheating scandals in the Arroyo administration.
  • The review of the Vizconde massacre case and convict Hubert Webb’s motion for acquittal wherein Webb is asking the court to overturn a Paranaque court’s ruling and the Court of Appeals’ affirmation of his guilt. In 2000, Webb, son of former Senator Freddie Webb, and six others were found guilty of murdering three members of the Vizconde family in June 1991.
  • The compliance (reply) of the 37 University of the Philippines law professors who risk sanctions from the court. The high court has threatened to discipline the faculty members for supposed unethical conduct in calling for the resignation of Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, who was accused of plagiarizing portions of his ruling on World War II sex slaves or “comfort women."
  • President Aquino’s letter and media groups’ petition for a live broadcast of the Maguindanao massacre trial.
  • The National Press Club’s petition to name as a “special court" the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 handling the Maguindanao massacre case so that Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes will be relieved of any other cases. The cases or issues were among the 300 cases tackled by the court en banc earlier in the day. Marquez said that the petition challenging the legality of EO No. 1 is calendared for the en banc session on Tuesday next week. Marquez said that even if the court did not come up with the decision on the petition seeking a live broadcast of the Maguindanao massacre trial, it does not mean that the court is not prioritizing the case. “The justices need more time to study that petition. It doesn’t mean it's not being prioritized," he said. - KBK, GMANews.TV
  • Tags: supremecourt
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