Sereno asserts right
House allows her to cross examine impeachment witnesses
The House Committee on Justice will allow Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to cross-examine witnesses presented in the impeachment case against her.
Sereno is being accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, corruption, and other high crimes for her alleged litany of lapses, including untruthful declaration of her wealth.
But Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, committee chairman, made it clear Sereno will be permitted to conduct the cross-examination on a limited run.
The House panel stressed this after Sereno, through her lawyers, asserted on Thursday her right to question the witnesses to be presented
against her.
Sereno lawyers Anzen Dy and Josalee Deinla personally submitted a three-page letter to this effect before the committee chaired by Umali.
“May mga balita tayong naririnig na ipagkakait sa kanya yung right to crossexamination. Ito yung mga ugong-ugong lang na naririnig natin from friends, allies (We've heard news that she will be denied the right to cross-examination. There are rumors that we hear from friends, allies),” Deinla said in a chance interview after their letter was received.
“Ngayon ang ginigiit ni Chief Justice dito ay yung kanyang karapatan to due process na maging patas lamang ang Kongreso. Paano malalaman ang katotohanan kung isang panig lang ang pinakikinggan (What the Chief Justice is asserting here is her right to due process, for Congress to be fair. How will we learn the truth if we will only listen to one side)?” she asked.
Dy told reporters that the Sereno camp is mainly invoking Section 6 of the House of Representatives’ rules on impeachment proceedings in their demand to confront would-be witnesses.
“It's with respect to the conduct of hearings after the determination of sufficiency of grounds,” he said, noting that the Chief Justice has already filed her written answer to the ouster rap as required by the Committee.
“So we have already filed our verified answer. Based on pleadings, the honorable Committee on Justice will determine sufficiency of grounds. Assuming that they do not find sufficiency of grounds, they will and they can dismiss the complaint already,” Dy said.
“Assuming that they do find sufficiency of grounds, they may conduct and they can call for hearings. It is on those hearings that evidence will be presented. Thus, the House rules specifically provide that there will be direct and cross-examinations,” he said.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, a former chairman of the House justice panel, backed Sereno’s position as being “in order and consistent with the Constitution on the rights of the accused.”
“While an impeachment proceeding is a political process, it is imbued with a judicial nature akin to a criminal prosecution,” Lagman noted.
Even lawyer Larry Gadon, the lone complainant in the impeachment case, said a respondent “is always given the opportunity to examine witnesses.”
But Gadon noted that he cannot say whether the same procedure is observed in impeachment proceedings.
Interviewed by House media, Umali pointed out that while issues raised by all parties on the proceedings on determination of probable cause may be voted upon by the committee, the rule is clear in all other hearings conducted by both Senate and the Lower House.
Umali said lawyers representing invited resource persons, or in this case the respondent and complainant in an impeachment complaint, are not allowed to confront or directly field questions to witnesses.
“We do not allow lawyers to speak. But parties are not deprived their right to cross-examine witnesses, except that they must do it personally through congressmen,” said Umali.
“They (Sereno lawyers) can find an ally (in the committee) who may support their cause and then articulate whatever cross examination questions they want to throw to the witness,” the House official added.
Nevertheless, Umali said lawyers from both parties may also course their questions through the chairman of the Justice committee which was done during the impeachment proceedings against former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
Umali also disclosed that the hearing on the determination of probable cause will be conducted after the Justice committee received all pleadings from the parties.
Meanwhile, Gadon asked the House of Representatives to confirm probable cause in impeaching Sereno and elevate the complaint to the Senate for a full-blown impeachment trial, saying the Chief Justice defended herself with “more lies.”
In a 29-page Verified Reply to the Verified Answer of Sereno to the impeachment complaint, Gadon answered point-by-point the Chief Justice’s response, saying that she merely presented a defense that contained “more lies, more lies and more lies.”
“She must go soon. Either she resigns or is impeached and removed from office immediately,” stated Gadon in his reply.