Sereno on leave as impeachment hearings end

CHIEF JUSTICE Maria Lourdes PA. Sereno will take a 15-day “wellness leave” beginning Thursday, March 1, according to lawyer Jojo A. Lacanilao, one of her spokespersons. Ms. Sereno’s announced leave comes amid the conclusion Tuesday of the inquiry by the House committee on justice on lawyer Lorenzo G. Gadon’s impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice.

CHIEF JUSTICE Maria Lourdes PA. Sereno will take a 15- day “wellness leave” beginning Thursday, March 1, according to lawyer Jojo A. Lacanilao, one of her spokespersons.

Ms. Sereno’s announced leave comes amid the conclusion Tuesday of the inquiry by the House committee on justice on lawyer Lorenzo G. Gadon’s impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice.

This prompted the committee to approve a motion calling for a show- cause order on Mr. Lacanilao, who himself had earlier informed the committee on Tuesday that Ms. Sereno has a “scheduled...wellness leave (in) March.”

“Desisyon niya, personal niya, na i- advance ’yung scheduled wellness leave niya sa March to a few weeks earlier. ’Yun ’yung desisyon niya. (It was her personal decision to move ahead her scheduled leave),” Mr. Lacanilao said of Ms. Sereno’s leave, which was initially scheduled on March 12 to 23.

‘INDEFINITE LEAVE’

But according to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali, who heads the committee, it was the Supreme Court (SC) en banc that “forced” Ms. Sereno to go on leave, adding that this is an “indefinite leave.”

“Kasinungalingan ’yung sinasabing wellness leave ( This socalled wellness leave is a lie). It is an indefinite leave, and I hate to say it, this was because the en banc forced her into it,” Mr. Umali told reporters, reading to them a text message: “Justices said that what was agreed upon during the en banc was indefinite leave by the CJ, not just a wellness leave, as her lawyers claimed.”

Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn F. Garcia, for her part, criticized Mr. Lacanilao’s version of Ms. Sereno’s leave as “fake news.”

But lawyer Josalee S. Deinla, also a spokesperson of Ms. Sereno, said in a text message that the Chief Justice “intends to resume her post after her leave. She ( has) no plans of resigning.”

Ms. Sereno is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, corruption, and other crimes.

During the last day of the deliberation on probable cause on the impeachment case, Mr. Umali said the “clarificatory hearings have proven that constitutional processes and mechanisms are in place and can function without causing conflict between the branches of the government.”

The hearings, which began November last year, were prolonged “due to the constraints of the availability of several key persons including the members of the Supreme Court,” he noted.

Among the justices who attended the hearings are Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, Diosdado M. Peralta, Francis H. Jardeleza, Noel G. Tijam, Samuel R. Martires, Mariano C. del Castillo, and Lucas P. Bersamin. Retired Associate Justice Arturo D. Brion also appeared as resource person. — main reports by

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