‘No politics’: House leader assures fair hearings in Leonen impeachment case
MANILA, Philippines — There will be no politics involved in the House of Representatives’ hearings on the impeachment case filed against Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, Rizal Rep. Juan Fidel Nograles said Wednesday.
Nograles, who serves as the vice-chairperson of the House committee on justice, said that House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco himself has ordered that the hearings should be fair and impartial to all parties involved.
“’Yung committee po kasi para ho kaming isang hukuman dito at lahat ho kami ay nanunungkulan bilang mga mahistrado at sisiguraduhin ho namin na walang pulitika dito,” Nograles told reporters.
(The committee is like a court and all of us are acting as judges, and we will make sure that there will be no politics here.)
“Mananaig po ang ating batas, ang ating proseso at utos po ng ating House Speaker, Lord Allan Velasco, na magiging fair at impartial ang trial at lahat ng partido ay mabibigyan ng pagkakataon, due process, upang marinig ang kanilang mga hinaing at mga arguments dito ho sa ating dinidinig na kaso,” he added.
(The law will prevail, and our House Speaker has ordered that the trial will be fair and impartial. All of the parties will be given the chance, due process, to air out their grievances and arguments in this case.)
The first hearing on the impeachment case against Leonen is set for Thursday, May 27.
Edwin Cordevilla, secretary general of Filipino League of Advocates for Good Government, filed an impeachment complaint against Leonen in December 2020.
Cordevilla claimed that the magistrate “clearly lacks integrity because he failed to file his statement of assets and liabilities and net worth” for 15 years during his tenure at the University of the Philippines.
The impeachment complaint was endorsed by Ilocos Norte Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba, a cousin of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos.
Leonen, who wrote the decision junking the electoral protest of Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo, has said that Congress should not spend time on “false issues raised by some for clearly personal or vindictive reasons.”
