Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The House committee on justice sealed Thursday the junking of the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
During its online meeting, the House justice panel voted to approve the committee report junking the impeachment complaint against Leonen by a vote of 21-0-0.
To recall, on May 27, the justice panel unanimously dismissed the impeachment complaint against Leonen. What was approved during Thursday’s meeting was the committee report that seals the earlier dismissal. The report will then be transmitted to the House plenary.
“The one-year bar against the filing of impeachment complaints against respondent Associate Justice Leonen starts therefore on May 18, 2021,” Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso III, the chairperson of the justice committee, said.
Some lawmakers earlier pointed out that the complaint was insufficient in form and substance since it lacked authentic records to support the allegations against Leonen.
Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez said that allegations in the impeachment complaint should be based on the personal knowledge of the complainant or based on authentic records.
However, the lack of certified true copies of attachments included in the complaint makes it “undeniably, purely hearsay,” as he pointed out several allegations in the complaint only cited news reports.
In his impeachment complaint, Edwin Cordevilla, secretary-general of the Filipino League of Advocates for Good Government 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 was the one who wrote the decision junking the electoral protest of Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo.