Supreme Court justice facing impeachment on sick leave

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo

Beleaguered Supreme Court Justice Mariano del Castillo is going on leave starting next week to undergo a heart bypass operation, a court official said Tuesday.

Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez said Del Castillo, who is facing an impeachment complaint, was taking a “wellness leave” for two to three weeks, starting next week.

Marquez denied Del Castillo was retiring early even as the House committee on justice on Tuesday voted that there were sufficient grounds for his impeachment.

He said he spoke with Del Castillo Tuesday and he “did not give any indication” that he was opting for early retirement.

“I think he will continue,” he said.

He explained that Del Castillo underwent a bypass operation several years ago.

“Apparently, the bypass was not really very successful. Arteries remain clogged except for one,” Marquez said.

“There is some degree of urgency that he undergo another bypass. I know he planned it for after January,” he added.

House allies of President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday kept alive the impeachment complaint against Del Castillo which was filed more than a year ago and raised the possibility of Congress tackling two ouster moves against high-court magistrates in one year.

Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. took time off from his duties as lead prosecution counsel in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona to chair the justice committee meeting which voted 27 to 4 (with 1 abstention), finding the complaint against Del Castillo sufficient.

The lone abstention was Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman who tried in vain to argue that the justice committee had already lost jurisdiction over the case and that it should be dismissed automatically since it had gone beyond the 60-session day limit within which to process the case under the House rules.

The impeachment complaint, which arose from Del Castillo’s alleged copying without attribution of opinion of other legal experts in  his decision dismissing the charges filed by World War II so-called comfort women, was deemed sufficient in form in May 18 last year.

It has been in the back burner of the House especially since December 12 when the House majority  completed the filing, signing, verification and transmittal of the impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona in just five hours.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said that the impeachment of Del Castillo was a “party stand” of the ruling Liberal Party. With Tetch Torres, INQUIRER.net

Originally posted: 7:01 pm | Tuesday, February 7th, 2012