Sereno camp: Highly irregular for magistrate to take witness stand

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The camp of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said on Sunday that it would be “highly irregular” for a magistrate to take the witness stand in an impeachment proceeding, especially against a fellow justice.

One of Sereno’s spokespersons, lawyer Winnie Salumbides, said the chief magistrate’s defense in her impeachment case would not be affected by the testimony of Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro should she decide to testify in the hearing before the House committee on justice.

“As a lawyer, I find it highly irregular for a magistrate, for a Supreme Court justice to go down and take the witness stand. Medyo kinikilabutan po ako. Mahirap naman po ata na ‘yung hukom o yung huwes, biglang nagiging testigo (It gives me goosebumps. It seems inappropriate for a judge or justice to become a witness),” Salumbides said in a statement.

“It’s unconventional, pero kung matatamaan ang aming depensa o hindi, wala ho kaming pangamba. Wala kaming makitang dahilan para mabahala,” he added.

(It’s unconventional but if it would affect our defense or not, we are not worried. We do not see any reason to be worried.)

The House committee on justice, which is now in the process of determining probable cause to impeach Sereno, had invited De Castro to attend the impeachment hearing to shed light on some of the allegations hurled by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon against Sereno.

This was after Gadon pointed to De Castro as the source of some information he stated in his complaint, particularly the internal administrative matters of the high court, through a common “friend,” whom he identified as newspaper reporter Jomar Canlas.

During the resumption of the justice committee hearings last Wednesday, Gadon admitted he had no personal knowledge on the allegations contained in his complaint, particularly on his accusation that the Chief Justice “falsified” a certain SC resolution.

When pressed several times by congressmen if he had direct and personal knowledge, Gadon said his information was only relayed to him by Canlas.

The complainant also said he was told by Canlas that he got the information from De Castro, prompting the committee to invite the associate justice to next week’s hearing.

De Castro then issued a statement denying Gadon’s statement.

“I have never released to Jomar Canlas any information, report, or document regarding the work of the Supreme Court,” De Castro said.

Following De Castro’s denial, justice committee chair Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali warned that Gadon may be held liable for perjury for his false statements made under oath.

Gadon’s revelation has put the spotlight on De Castro for her possible violation of the Internal Rules of the SC, which safeguard the confidentiality of sessions and internal documents of the high tribunal./au