Psychiatrists to testify at last Sereno impeachment hearing

THE House Committee on Justice is set to wrap up its hearings on an impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Tuesday with three psychiatrists expected to testify on a psychological evaluation of the country’s top magistrate.

Apart from the three psychiatrists-Dr. Rhodora Andrea Concepcion, president of the Philippine Psychiatric Association, Dr. Geraldine Tria and Dr. Genuina Ranoy--the other resource persons include Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court, lawyer Renato Bermejo of the Land Registration Authority, Judicial and Bar council members Jojo Media and Milagros Cayosa and Supreme Court administrator Midas Marquez.

Ranoy was one of the psychiatrists who evaluated the Chief Justice at the time that she was applying for the Chief Justice post in 2012.

“As to the psychiatrists, the members are convinced that the actions of the Chief Justice have a pattern which tends to validate the findings of the psychiatrists that the Chief Justice fired [two psychiatrists] when she assumed her post. This is in congruent with the charges that the Chief Justice is being accused of and [with] the results of her psychiatric evaluation at the time that she was applying for the Chief Justice post,” Rep. Reynaldo Umali, committee chairman, said in a radio interview.

Umali was referring to an 11-page psychiatric report on Sereno in which the Chief Justice got a rating of 4 out of 5, with 5 being the lowest. The results of the test, which The Manila

Times reported as an exclusive story in August 2012, read, “Dramatic and emotional, she appears energetic and all smiles and agreeable, but with religious preoccupation in almost all significant aspects of her life. She projects a happy mood but has depressive markers too. There is a strong tendency to make decisions based on current mood thus, outcome is highly subjective and self-righteous.”