Senatorial aspirant lawyer Larry Gadon on Tuesday, Jan. 4 questioned the Supreme Court for allegedly failing to observe due process before reaching a decision to suspend him indefinitely from practicing his profession.
The High Court decided on Tuesday afternoon to place Gadon on preventive suspension reportedly on account of the profanities he allegedly posted on social media against journalist Raisa Robles.
Gadon, a candidate for senator under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, was furious when Robles allegedly called presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. a tax evader.
“For an institution that prides itself for safeguarding due process of laws, I am confused that the Supreme Court immediately suspended me without due process and my suspension was announced in the media without furnishing me first with a copy of the complaint, if there is any,” said Gadon in a statement reacting to the SC decision.
He added: “Since this appears unprecedented in History, I cannot help but feel that I am being singled out. Could this be due to my recent statement calling for a refund of the protest fees paid by BBM that remained unresolved?” Earlier, Gadon issued a press release demanding the refund of the protest fees the young Marcos paid to the High Court in order that the election protest he filed against incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo can be acted upon.
The embattled lawyer said SC Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa and Marvic Leonen should be held accountable for the refund of the protest fees deposited by Marcos in connection with the 2016 vice presidential protest.
He claimed that notwithstanding the “inordinate delays” in the resolution of the protest, Marcos’ complaint has remained unresolved.
“Justices Caguioa and Marivic Leonen must be held personally liable for the refund since the long delays can be attributed to the two of them,” said Gadon in a press statement.
“The snail paced proceedings during the time that AJ Caguioa was the ponente has dragged the protest for several years on a simple issue of whether the 25% shading should be considered as valid vote or not despite what COMELEC has been telling the voting public to fully shade the vote,” he pointed out.
“At the time that the protest was re-raffled to AJ Marivic Leonen , the issue was whether the SC can invalidate the votes from parts of Mindanao proven to be marred with fraud . Leonen refuses to rule on it allegedly due to the absence of rules covering the matter,” Gadon said.