Dismissal of del Castillo case likely – Tupas
AN impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo might be thrown out the window for running smack into the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, a House leader said on Tuesday.
Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo province, the chairman of the House justice committee, disclosed that the im- peachment complaint against del Castillo may be dismissed or may not be acted upon because of lack of material time.
Tupas explained that there are only
five session days to resolve the case and the leaders of the justice panel are already serving as prosecutors in the Corona impeachment trial.
His committee was supposed to conduct a hearing on Tuesday to determine sufficiency in grounds of the impeachment raps against del Castillo but it was scrapped late Monday night.
“It was cancelled because the members of the committee might need more days to talk on what direction really to take. If we proceed with the hearing, there will be a voting on the sufficiency in grounds. By that time, we should have a decision. So far, the members of the committee are yet to come up with a definite one,” Tupas, also the lead prosecutor in the Corona impeachment trial, said during an interview.
The impeachment complaint against del Castillo has been found sufficient in form and in substance by the House Committee on Justice.
The House, Tupas said, has three options: to complete the process by recommending the impeachment of del Castillo and referring it to the plenary; to vote and decide to dismiss the case; or to let the five session days left lapse and just make a report to the plenary.
Del Castillo is accused of plagiarizing his ruling on the dismissal of a petition for certiorari filed by the members of Malaya Lolas or Filipino “comfort women.”
The ruling stemmed from the petition of the Malaya Lolas asking the High Court to compel the Executive department to espouse their claim for apology and other forms of reparations from the Japanese government for the rape and sexual slavery that they suffered from the Japa- nese military during World War 2.
But in his answer submitted to the House justice panel, del Castillo insisted that he was innocent, saying that his decision on the case of the “comfort women” was an “honest mistake” and done “without malice.”
Lawmakers who endorsed the impeachment complaint against de Castillo included Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro, Arlene Bag- ao and Walden Bello of Akbayan party- list, Bernadette Herrera-dy of Bagong Henerasyon party- list, Cesar Sarmiento of Catanduanes, Irvin Alcala of Quezon, Vicente Belmonte Jr. of Iligan City, Joseph Victor Ejercito of San Juan City ( Metro Manila), Florencio Flores of Bukidnon, Teddy Brawner Baguilat of Ifugao and Bolet Banal of Quezon City (Metro Manila).