Carpio begs off from impeachment hearings
SUPREME COURT (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio declined the invitation of the House committee on justice that he testifies in its impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno.
In a text message sent to the media, Mr. Carpio said: “I have written the committee declining to testify because I have no personal knowledge of the matters the committee mentioned in its reply to me.”
In his letter addressed to Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo V. Umali, chairman of the House committee on justice, Mr. Carpio listed the allegations of which he said he has no personal knowledge.
Among these allegations, as claimed by lawyer Lorenzo G. Gadon against the Chief Justice, is the supposed falsified temporary restraining order in the case of Senior Citizens Party List vs COMELEC (Commission on Elections).
As for the alleged delay in the transfer of the Maute cases out of Mindanao, Mr. Carpio said: “I wish to state that I was on Wellness Leave on 19 June 2017, the day the Maute cases were raffled. I was out of the country from 19 June 2017 to 3 July 2017.”
Mr. Carpio also said he has no personal knowledge on the claims that Ms. Sereno “lied and made it appear that several justices requested that they do away with the voting for the recommendees to the Supreme Court.”
“I wish to state that for years now, my position has been that the Court do away with the voting since the Judicial and Bar Council is an independent constitutional body and in any event it has not been following the recommendations of the Court for several years in the past,” Mr. Carpio wrote.
Mr. Carpio added that he is not aware of the matters regarding the alleged hiring of IT consultants with “excessive compensation without public bidding.”
He explained that he only “came to know of such hiring only after the consultancy contract was questioned, long after it had been implemented and renewed,” adding that as of Jan. 10, “this matter is still under deliberation by the En Banc.”
Mr. Carpio also stated that he “will not be able to comment or testify” on “all other allegations involving administrative matters and internal rules and procedures of the Supreme Court” unless the committee specifies which.
The committee is set to continue its impeachment proceedings on Jan. 15 when Congress resumes session. This will be the committee’s ninth hearing. —