Senate won’t summon, question SC’S Sereno
MANILA – The Senate impeachment court will not send written interrogatories to Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and subpoena the member of the Supreme Court (SC) to testify before the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
During the Senate caucus, the senator-judges maintained that the high court is a co-equal branch of the Senate and that it cannot compel justices to attend the proceedings.
The senators agreed that it would be the task of the prosecution panel to convince Associate Justice Sereno to attend the impeachment court.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima testified that Sereno's dissenting opinion claimed that Corona intervened in the high court's deliberation on the petition filed by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, asking for a temporary restraining order ( TRO) against the Department of Justice's travel ban.
Meanwhile, Dr. Juliet Gopez- Cervantes, Mrs. Arroyo's friend and personal doctor, has been subpoenaed by the Senate impeachment court to testify regarding the exPresident's medical condition when the TRO was issued by the SC before she was arrested on an electoral charge last year.
The prosecution panel, who is now presenting evidence and witnesses on Article 7 of the complaint, maintained that Mrs. Arroyo's medical condition was not " lifethreatening" when the TRO was issued.
The former President's lawyers had previously asked from the allow department order from the Department of Justice to allow their client to travel abroad to seek medical treatment for her bone mineral disorder, which they claimed was " lifethreatening."
However, De Lima, who took the witness stand last week, testified that she consulted Health Secretary Enrique Ona regarding the medical abstract submitted by Mrs. Arroyo's lawyers.
Ona told De Lima that Mrs. Arroyo's medical condition was not " lifethreatening" and could be treated by doctors in the country.
With Ona's recommendations, De Lima turned down the Arroyo camp's request for ADO. This prompted the lawyers of the Arroyos to go to the Supreme Court and request for a TRO on the watchlist order of the justice department. ( Philippine STAR News Service)