Sereno camp on House impeachment proceedings: Comic tragedy

A “comic tragedy” was how the camp of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno described the impeachment proceedings that the House of Representatives intends to conclude this month.

Lawyer Jojo Lacanilao, a spokesperson for the embattled Chief Justice, who attended previous hearings to observe the House proceedings, said House leaders appeared to have prejudged the case in their public pronouncements so the conduct of more hearings this month seems to be absurd.

“It’s tragic-comic to hear the leadership of the House as having made up their minds against CJ Sereno, even before the justice committee votes on probable cause and the plenary on the committee’s report,” he stressed in a statement issued yesterday.

Lacanilao cited for instance a recent statement from House justice committee chair and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali that Sereno was no longer fit to stay in office as the Supreme Court has become “dysfunctional” under her watch.

“How can you lead if you have a divided court? How can the government function if one branch is dysfunctional?” Umali was quoted as saying. He cited the testimonies of SC justices in previous hearings.

Earlier, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez publicly said that the issues raised against Sereno “stand on strong and solid ground.”

In the same radio interview last week, Umali said their panel would need four more hearings to complete the proceedings to vote and come up with their committee report.

Officials from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and psychiatrists are expected to attend the succeeding hearings. Sereno’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, and her other tax payments would also be discussed, he added.

Umali said the committee wants to find out if the chief magistrate is still fit to continue holding the position after several of her colleagues in the Supreme Court testified against her.

But Lacanilao believes that the hearings are no longer necessary if the House panel really has evidence to imme- diately file the case with the Senate for trial.

“One wonders why – if they are so convinced about their case – they would still need four hearing days to complete their work,” he maintained.

Lacanilao reiterated his call for the House to now transmit the case to the Senate where Sereno’s camp could expect a fair trial, saying the House hearings have not established any impeachable offense committed by the SC chief.

“We are unconvinced that there is any impeachable offense established against CJ Sereno, if we follow the Constitution on the grounds for impeachment,” the lawyer pointed out.