THE House committee on justice will invite all the associate justices of the Supreme Court (SC) to shed light on allegations that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has tampered with some en banc resolutions.
During the House panel's third hearing on the impeachment complaint against Sereno Wednesday, November 22, Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene "Kaka" Bag-ao moved to invite all the magistrates to explain the lack of en banc proceedings prior to the promulgation of allegedly questionable decisions cited by lawyer Larry Gadon in his impeachment complaint.
Nobody objected to her motion.
Gadon accused Sereno of culpable violation of the constitution for "falsifying" resolutions of the High Court. Among these resolutions are: Administrative Order dated November 9, 2012 (Designating the Head for the Judiciary Decentralized Office [JDO] in the Seventh Judicial Region); resolution dated November 27, 2012 regarding the opening of the Regional Court Administrative Office in Region 7 (Central Visayas); and the Temporary Restraining Order in Coalition of Association of Senior Citizens in the Philippines vs. the Commission on Elections.
Gadon, during the hearing, insisted that Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro is in the best position to answer questions regarding the resolutions he cited.
Gadon claimed he got his information from De Castro. He said the magistrate is willing to testify in the impeachment proceedings.
Sereno spokesperson Josa Deinla said in a statement that if De Castro indeed informed Gadon about the Court dealings, she had "clearly violated" the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court.
"The Internal Rules of the Supreme Court prominently safeguards the confidentiality of Supreme Court sessions and its internal documents," Deinla said.
Siquijor Rep. Ramon Rocamora, during the hearing, pointed out that Gadon himself should have had the evidence before filing the complaint against Sereno instead of asking the committee to invite De Castro to produce evidence for him.
Bag-ao also criticized Gadon for failing to answer even the simplest questions, considering that he is the complainant.
"Kung ang makakasagot pala ng basic questions lang naman dito, ang sagot mo e ibang tao ang makakasagot, hindi ko alam kung sino ang complainant dito (I'm not sure who the complainant is here since other people have the answers to the basic questions)," she said.
Aside form culpable violation of the constitution, Gadon also accused Sereno of corruption and betrayal of public trust.
The committee as of 4 p.m. Wednesday was tackling the accusations of Gadon one by one. Committee chair Reynaldo Umali said the plenary vote on the forthcoming findings of the committee will be on December 13. (SunStar Philippines)