Toledo RTC Judge Judilyn Hugo Tapia-Menchavez and Lapu-Lapu RTC Judge Ronald Caramba Tolentino reportedly received death threats and online attacks, following their favorable ruling on Go’s defense against the estafa case filed against her by businessman Kaiser Christopher Tan in 2022, Estrella Elamparo, Go’s legal counsel, told reporters on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
Elamparo said the motion was submitted to the Office of the Court Administrator on Tuesday, March 28. She said her client hopes the case will be transferred to any court in Metro Manila.
“A transfer of venue will be beneficial to everyone working on the case. It will secure the safety of the accused, the presiding judges and their immediate family against threats to their life and other acts of intimidation. Additionally, it will avoid trial by publicity and undue local pressure, which will promote orderly administration of justice and guarantee public confidence in the judiciary,” Elamparo said.
She said Judge Tapia-Menchavez and Judge Tolentino were also accused of accepting bribes in relation to Go’s estafa case.
She said the threats and attacks were already reported to the National Bureau of Investigation for further investigation.
Elamparo also asked the Supreme Court (SC) to intervene.
“This matter needs to be taken seriously, especially since a lot of judges have already been killed while performing their sworn duties. Since 2016, at least 66 judges, prosecutors and lawyers have been killed, so we are asking the SC to step in and probe into these death threats being received by the Cebu judges and help shed light on the perpetrators,” she said.
Michelle Lim Go is also known by her married name, Michelle Go-Chu.
Tan’s legal counsel, Amando Virgil Ligutan, denied the insinuations that his client had anything to do with the threats against the judges.
Ligutan told SunStar Cebu his client has also received death threats and online attacks.
He said Tan is only seeking justice for the wrongdoings that Go and the Baltonado couple had inflicted on his client and other victims.
Go, Lorenzo Baltonado Jr. and his wife, Jerlyn Joyce Baltonado, are accused of running an “investment scam.”