‘COMPLAINT VS SERENO BRIMMING WITH OFFENSES’

SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez believes that impeachment complaint filed by Larry Gadon against Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno is brimming with impeachable offenses following the testimonies of justices of the Supreme Court.

Associate Justices Teresita de Castro, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam, as well as retired Justice Arturo Brion on Monday narrated a number of irregular acts of the chief justice, accusing her of violating the tribunal’s policy of collegiality.

“Sating ink os ob ra so bra[ I think the impeachment complaint is brimming with impeachable

offenses.) “Paras a a kin, a yo kong pangunahan‘yung committee per ola hat ta y on aka panoodkung an on gs ina bi nun gm ga nag -

testify at sig ur on am an ma lin aw na sig ur op ar am a ki tang sam bayan an kun gt ala gang mer ongl am an ‘yung impeachment complaint (For me, I do not want to jump the gun on the committee but we all heard what the resource persons said and the public can decide if the impeachment complaint is valid),” Alvarez said in a news conference on Tuesday.

The House leader believes that the justices who appeared during the hearing were credible.

He said everyone who wants to testify at the House proceedings should be given the chance to be heard. “Par as a a kin, itu lo ylangyung

committee hearings, ilabasnatinyun gk a to to hanan, la hat …. P ag big y anna tin[l ah a tn gm ga gustongmag- testify] atpagkatapos noon ts aka pal angia-assess[ng

committee] kunganoyungmga na ku ha nil ange bid en s ya atyung mga testimonies ngmgatumestigo ritoat by ten, siguromatibayna

matibaynayung position,” Alvarez said. (Let’s continue the committee hearings, let truth come out. Let‘s hear all testimonies and after that, the committee will assess the evidence.)

But for Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, while the testimonies are hard-hitting, they hardly constitute impeachable offenses.

“The differences in opinion will not constitute impeachable offense, because these particular differences, the supreme court already made decisions, they are

In their testimonies, the four justices said Sereno ignored the court en banc and took matters in her own hands.

Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice observed that the impeachment proceedings turned into a “grievance committee” for the justices who vented out their frustrations against Sereno.

“I think our magistrates should be more responsible in dealing Supreme Court and not here in the Congress. They are not the complainants, they only have their grievances. They should have their own way, their own mechanism to deal with these, not here in Congress or the public,” Erice said in Filipino.

The four justices shed light on Gadon’s allegations that Sereno committed culpable violation of the Constitution by manipulating and delaying the transfer of Maute cases outside of Marawi, manipulating the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC)’s shortlist to exclude Jardeleza, falsifying a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by de Castro and falsifying a Supreme Court resolution to erect (JDO) in Region 7.

Aside from culpable violation of the Constitution, Gadon also accused Sereno of committing betrayal of public trust, corruption and other high crimes.