House panel finds impeach complaint sufficient in form
The House Committee on Justice on Tuesday declared as sufficient in form the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro and six other Supreme Court justices.
The finding was supported by all 21 committee members who participated at the opening of the impeachment deliberations. No member objected.
While complainants Reps. Edcel Lagman (LP, Albay) and Gary Alejano (Magdalo Parytlist) were present at the proceedings, both are not members of the justice panel and barred from voting.
At the same time, the panel, chaired by Mindoro Oriental Rep. Salvador Leachon, consolidated the seven separate complaints filed by opposition congressmen charged on the basis of culpable violation of the Constitution.
Aside from De Castro, also facing impeachment were Associate Justices Lucas Bersamin, Diosdado Peralta, Andres Reyes, Alexander Gesmundo, Noel Tijam, and Francis Jardeleza.
They were charged for issuing a ruling that upheld the quo warranto petition that resulted in the ouster of former Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno.
The complaints against the five respondents facing impeachment on the additional basis of betrayal of public trust will be separately considered. They are De Castro, Bersamin, Jardeleza, Tijam and Peralta who were the subjects of a motion for inhibition on the quo warranto case which they all ignored.
The committee decided to meet again on September 11 to determine if the complaint is sufficient in substance.
The proceedings are the fourth impeachment issue to be initiated in the current 17th Congress. It was filed less than a year after the justice panel ended its impeachment case filed by lawyer Larry Gadon against Sereno.
Leachon described as “far reaching” the implications of the current impeachment issue that seeks to unseat almost half of the Supreme Court.
“Even the Legislative Branch may be burdened with seemingly gargantuan task of being prosecutors and judges. Nonetheless, we likewise recognize impeachment proceeding as an integral parcel of the constitutional system of check and balance,” he said.
The senior administration lawmaker called on everyone involved in the proceedings “to observe the highest standards of discernment in performing our mandate of initiating impeachment proceedings.”
“On my end, let me be expressly and endlessly be repetitive on this, that this proceeding shall be treated and disposed with utmost transparency and impartiality,” he said.