House justice panel vows ‘greatest impartiality’

While many of them are not lawyers, the 55-member justice committee of the House of Representatives will judiciously handle the impeachment complaints brought against seven justices of the Supreme Court, according to the committee’s chair, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Salvador Leachon.

In a news briefing on Monday, Leachon said arguing over the legality of Teresita Leonardo-de Castro’s designation as Chief Justice was “moot and academic.”

President Duterte, he noted, made the appointment before the committee could formally receive the impeachment complaints against De Castro and six of her colleagues.

Not yet pending

Leachon said his panel was expecting the office of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to forward the complaints when they resume session on Tuesday.

“Under our rules… [the impeachment complaints] are not yet pending because [they have] yet to be referred to the justice committee,” he said.

Arroyo, who appointed De Castro to the high tribunal when she was still President in 2007, already directed the committee to immediately act on the complaints filed by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and three other opposition lawmakers.

“If we can hold the hearings every day, then we will do it,” Leachon said. “We will definitely deal with this impeachment proceedings with the greatest impartiality and resolve the issue as soon as we can…”

He added: “The issue at hand is whether the [alleged] error of judgment on the part of the justices would be tantamount to an impeachable offense.”

Separate complaints

Besides De Castro, also named in the separate complaints were Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Andres Reyes Jr., Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam and Alexander Gesmundo.

Lagman and the members of the so-called “Magnificent 7” argued that the justices should be expelled from the high tribunal for culpable violation of the 1987 Constitution and betrayal of public trust by voting to oust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno outside of the impeachment process.