Sereno camp cites another ‘lie’ in Gadon’s testimony
The camp of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said there was another lie or perjury in the testimony of lawyer Lorenzo Gadon in the latter’s impeachment complaint against the chief magistrate.
In a statement issued yesterday, Sereno’s spokesman and lawyer Jojo Lacanilao said a testimony by Supreme Court Clerk of Court Felipa Anama belied Gadon’s claim that Associate Justice Noel Tijam was the one in charge of handling the request of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II for the transfer of cases against the Mautes to Taguig City from Mindanao.
In her testimony before the House committee on justice hearing the impeachment complaint, Anama said the administrative case was not raffled off to Tijam.
“The Chief Justice is the member-in-charge for this administrative matter. The Chief Justice did not and could not have ‘caused the matter to be raffled to her.’ The Chief Justice is not the head, and is not even a member, of the Raffle Committee. She has no participation at all in the raffle of cases,” Lacanilao said.
Earlier, the House committee on justice said Gadon could be held liable for perjury after Associate Justice Teresita de Castro denied being his source of information in his impeachment complaint.
Lacanilao also belied the allegation that Sereno was acting on the case by herself without the collegial approval of the high court.
“As the letter of the Secretary of Justice was personally addressed to her and considering the urgency of the matter, she discussed the matter with the (full Court) even prior to the matter being raffled. Since the Supreme Court acted on the request, the raffle committee assigned the administrative matter to the Chief Justice consistent with the standard practice of the Clerk of Court,” he pointed out.
“The administrative matter was part of the raffle proceedings and although it was assigned to the Chief Justice, the assignment was confirmed by the members of the Raffle Committee composed of three justices of the Supreme Court,” he added.
As the justice committee resumed its impeachment hearing yesterday, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez served notice to Sereno that her defense would be for naught if she does not make it under oath before his panel.
“That will be a big problem because based on rules her denials will be treated as mere scrap of paper if not made under oath here and if she’s not subjected to cross examination,” Alvarez told newsmen.
The Davao del Norte congressman was referring to the documents submitted by Sereno’s lawyers to the justice committee headed by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali.
Sereno has repeatedly turned down invitations for her to attend the committee’s impeachment hearings, saying she is allowed under the law to be represented by her lawyers.
The committee has allowed her lawyers to attend but not participate in the hearings.
In yesterday’s hearing, SC’s Anama repeatedly invoked confidentiality in the choice of the member-in-charge of Aguirre’s request but later admitted – after questioning from Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta – that the case was not raffled off to the justices.
Umali, Reps. Henry Oaminal of Misamis Occidental and Vicente Veloso of Leyte pointed out the issue was already “academic” since the transfer request was already acted upon 52 days later.
Umali told Anama there was no more need to invoke confidentiality as Sereno herself, in the documents she submitted to the panel, had admitted assuming responsibility over the case.
“If the case has already been resolved, then there’s no point discussing the raffle,” said committee vice chairman and former Court of Appeals Justice Vicente Veloso.