House leader sees Judiciary’s hand in Sereno impeachment

The chairman of the House Committee on Justice has vowed a quick disposition of the impeachment complaints brought before his panel, even as he observed the apparent hand of the Judiciary in the move to oust Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

Oriental Mindoro Repre-

sentative Reynaldo Umali, who chairs the committee handling the impeachment complaints against Sereno and Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista, assured that all impeachment complaints will be immediately attended to.

Commenting on the move to impeach the Chief Magistrate, Umali said he observed a “division” within the Supreme Court (SC) and that a “shaky leadership” in the Judiciary seemed to have fired up the filing of two impeachment cases against Sereno.

“Actually nong pahapyawan ko yong impeachment complaint (Actually, during my initial review of the impeachment complaint) I could see the hand of... the court (SC) itself,” he said in a radio interview.

He believed that the issue of impeachment against Sereno started “within the Court” as five SC justices are willing to testify in the ouster case against the Chief Justice.

“Galing sa loob lahat ‘to (All the information came from within the Judiciary) Kaya, I think there is a division even within the court which is why this is happening,” Umali said.

He noted that most of the information was covered by the actions taken by the Supreme Court en banc and was included by Atty. Larry Gadon, president of the PDU30 Constitutional Reform to Federalism and a former lawyer of ex-President-turned Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in the complaint he filed against Sereno.

“So pina-authenticate ni Atty. Gadon ‘yong mga dokumento. Lahat nangyari sa Supreme Court or karamihan galing sa Supreme Court. Kaya ‘yon, kasama na yan dito sa mga sinubmit, ifinile nya. (Atty. Gadon had all the documents authenticated. This happened within the Supreme Court or most information came from the Supreme Court. That is why they were included in his complaint), “Umali said.

“Ang nakapagtataka ay pinayagan ng Supreme Court ‘to. So makikita mo na talagang may (rift) ‘ika nga sa Supreme Court. (I am wondering why the Supreme Court allowed this. So, you can see there is really a rift within the Supreme Court). This will not augur well for the Supreme Court kasi, you know, while they can, they are independent in their own judgment pero pag leadership dapat ay buo,” he said.

Gadon claimed that the Chief Justice purchased a 1 5.1 million brand-new, high-end 2017 Toyota Land Cruiser with a reported 14 million bulletproofing job, and failed to include in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) the “exorbitant lawyer’s fees” amounting to $745,000 or 137 million. Gadon’s complaint was endorsed by at least 25 lawmakers.

The second ouster complaint against Sereno was filed by Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) founding chairman and president Dante Jimenez and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. lawyer Eligio Mallari and endorsed by 16 lawmakers.

When asked if the willingness of some SC justices to testify against her would fire up Sereno’s ouster, Umali said, “at the outset I can say na yong the leadership of the third branch of government is medyo shaky ano. And you know, when you determine the fitness of the respondent to continue holding public office, that will also matter.”

The House leader said they will hear Sereno’s impeachment complaints on Wednesday this week, as scheduled.

The ouster petition against Comelec chief Bautista will be tackled next week.