For failure to prove that the contempt citation against him lacks legal basis, the Pasay City Regional Trial Court dismissed the habeas corpus case filed by detained government contractor Pacifico ‘Curlee’ Discaya.
A writ of habeas corpus is a remedy applicable to cases of illegal confinement or detention where a person is deprived of his or her liberty or where the rightful custody of any person is withheld from the person entitled thereto.
Curlee and his wife, Cezarah or Sarah, were among the government contractors implicated in alleged irregularities and ‘ghost projects’ in multibillion-peso flood control programs.
The contempt order was issued after the Committee found that Curlee gave inconsistent statements on the absence of his wife, Sarah, during the hearing.
Curlee said his wife was absent because of a heart condition. However, a letter from his wife stated that she was absent because she needed to attend a meeting with their employees.
After the Senate cited him for contempt and ordered his detention, he filed a habeas corpus case, asking the court to compel the Senate to bring him before it, justify his detention, and order his immediate release.
But the Court recognized the Senate’s contempt power, saying it is ‘inherent in the exercise of its legislative functions.’
It added that Curlee failed to provide evidence that his detention lacked a legal basis.
‘Petitioner [Curlee] has not presented any exceptional circumstances to compel this Court to transgress well-defined rules of procedure,’ the court said, adding that Curlee failed to present evidence of his wife’s health condition during her absence at the Senate hearing last Sept. 18.