THE reporter named by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon of being one of his informants denied Monday, November 27, that the source of a news report used as evidence against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro.
At the resumption of the House committee on justice's hearing on the impeachment complaint against Sereno, Manila Times reporter Jomar Canlas refused to name his source, invoking Republic Act 53 as amended by RA 1477 which protects reporters from compulsion to reveal the source of their information.
Canlas said his sources are reliable, but Leonardo-de Castro was not among them. The news article was entitled "Justice blasts Sereno over TRO mess."
"I hereby deny that I have intimated to. Atty Gadon that the source of facts in my articles is Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo- De Castro," Canlas said.
Gadon, who filed the complaint against Sereno and floated the name of Canlas during the third committee hearing on November 22, said he could not remember whether it was Canlas who told him.
"Your honors, I cannot really remember now if it was Jomar Canlas who intimated it to me," he told the committee when asked to react to the reporter's denial.
He said the denial does not change the fact that the incident existed and that De Castro will be willing to testify about it.
During the November 22 hearing, Gadon said Canlas informed him that De Castro told him of the alleged questionable acts of Sereno, specifically the tampering of a draft Temporary Restraining Order sent to her office by De Castro, who was its author.
The committee is tackling as of press time if there is probable cause to impeach the Chief Justice.
De Castro was also summoned to attend Monday's hearing but asked to defer her attendance because she still has to get an authorization from the Court en banc.
All Supreme Court associate justices also skipped the hearing, citing the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court which prohibit the associate justices from disclosing details regarding Court proceedings to safeguard the confidentiality of its sessions and internal documents.
Without the magistrates, the House committee on justice decided to defer discussion of matters that require their presence.
Sereno has been accused, among others, of falsifying some court resolutions of the en banc including a draft temporary restraining order sent to her office by de Castro. (SunStar Philippines)