SC mulls contempt charges against former chief justice

FORMER Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban is in danger of being penalized and cited for contempt by the Supreme Court (SC) en banc after an incumbent SC Associate Justice asked his colleagues to probe into Panganiban’s alleged intrusion into the pending cases of the court through his published articles.

In a one-page letter of SC Justice Arturo Brion addressed to the Court en banc on June 10, 2013, Brion accused the former chief justice of writing opinion articles regarding the SC’s March 2013 ruling which junked the P500-million tax refund or credit claims of Manny Pangilinan-owned San Roque Power Corp. for unutilized input value-added tax on purchases of capital goods and services in 2001.