SC urged: Release documents to bolster Sereno impeach raps

Groups seeking the ouster of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno yesterday sought records from the Supreme Court (SC) to bolster their impeachment complaint filed against her before the House of Representatives.

In a two-page letter, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and the Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. (VPCI) asked for certified copies of at least seven documents of the high court that will prove the allegations in their complaint filed last Wednesday.

The request is seen to test the clout of Sereno among her colleagues in the 15-member court, which should decide on the matter collegially.

The letter signed by VACC founding chair Dante Jimenez and VPCI president was addressed to the full court, through SC clerk of court Felipa Anama.

Among the documents requested by the two groups is the memorandum of Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro questioning Sereno’s orders that supposedly lacked necessary approval of the collegial court as provided under the rules, including the appointment of a Philippine Judicial Academy (Philja) official and provision for travel allowances of her staff.

De Castro’s internal memorandum, which was reported by The

STAR earlier, specifically assailed the appointment of lawyer Brenda Jay Mendoza as Philja chief of office for the Philippine Mediation Center.

De Castro said the memorandum violated their Administrative Order No. 33-2008 that required the appointment for the post to be approved by the SC collegially.

The magistrate also assailed Sereno’s grant of foreign travel allowance to members of her staff without required approval from the full court. She revealed that the Chief Justice’s staff were being given travel allowances even when their trips abroad were on “official time,” which should not involve expenditure of public funds.

De Castro has also questioned the “long delay” in the appointment of vacant key positions in the SC pending before Sereno’s office, “which is prejudicial to the best interest of service.”