MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has corrected Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ claim during a Senate debate that its ruling in the “League of Cities” case was unanimous, stressing the decision was not.
The clarification came after Hontiveros cited the case on Wednesday as an example of the high court reversing itself in unanimous decisions, in the course of discussions on whether to archive the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio. The SC had earlier junked the complaint in a 13-0 vote.
“We clarify that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the League of Cities case was not unanimous. Please refer to the Decision and Resolutions published in the Supreme Court E-Library and the Philippine Reports,” SC spokesperson Camille Ting said.
Ting added that the Court was “uncertain as to the source of the claim that the decision was unanimous.”
In the Senate deliberations, Hontiveros presented the League of Cities case as an instance where the SC reversed a previous ruling on a motion for reconsideration.
She also cited the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, Inc., et al. v. Greenpeace Southeast Asia case — where a unanimous decision was later overturned — to back Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto’s proposal for the chamber to wait for the SC’s final ruling on a pending motion for reconsideration in the Duterte-Carpio impeachment case.
Hontiveros later acknowledged the League of Cities ruling was not unanimous, contrary to her earlier assertion, but maintained that at least one other case showed the SC en banc reversing a unanimous decision.
“This is a reminder that NO ONE IS IMMUNE FROM ERROR. The most IMPORTANT thing is to CORRECT it,” Hontiveros said./PN
