SC reduces Dante Jimenez's fine from P100K to P30K

The Supreme Court has reduced from P100,000 to P30,000 the fine imposed on anti-crime crusader Dante Jimenez when he was cited in contempt for badmouthing the court’s justices on live television. “The court has lowered the fine to P30,000. The Rules of Civil Procedure state that the maximum fine that can be imposed is P30,000 or an imprisonment of six months, or both," said SC spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez at a press briefing Tuesday. He said the SC initially demanded a P100,000 fine “in lieu of imprisonment." But after finding merit in Jimenez’s motion for reconsideration, the court decided to lower the penalty to P30,000 without imprisonment. “The court is empowered to come up with its own rules," Marquez said. Jimenez was a former chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), a group supportive of widower Lauro Vizconde, who lost his bid to appeal the SC’s acquittal of the seven men previously convicted for the killing of his wife and two daughters in 2001. Among those acquitted was Hubert Webb, son of former Senator Freddie Webb. Immediately after the acquittal was announced last Dec. 14, Jimenez and Vizconde held a press conference and badmouthed the SC justices who voted in favor of Webb and his group. It was at this press conference that Jimenez hurled invectives at the magistrates. In response, the SC held Jimenez in indirect contempt of the court. Rule 71 of the Rules of Civil Procedure gives courts the power to cite in direct or indirect contempt people or parties to a case. Section 3 (d) of the rule states that, “Any improper conduct tending, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice" constitutes indirect contempt. - Sophia Dedace/KBK, GMA News