House warned on gathering signatures to impeach SC justices

Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes. INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Winning Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Jay Velasco warned the House of Representatives that the gathering of signatures in support of the resolution authored by Representative Umali regarding the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal to handle the case of disqualified Representatives Regina Ongsiako-Reyes might be used in impeaching Supreme Court justices.

Umali’s authored resolution was about reiterating “the time-honored principle on the exclusivity of the HRET jurisdiction over all contests relating to the election returns and disqualifications of its members.”

He came up with the resolution following the high court’s decision affirming with finality the disqualification of Marinduque Representative Regina Ongsiako-Reyes.

Reyes is the contender of Velasco. Velasco was proclaimed by Comelec as the winner after the Supreme Court affirmed Comelec’s decision disqualifying Reyes due to questions in her citizenship.

Umali, former prosecutor in the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, is the same lawmaker who expressed that intent on taking on the Supreme Court justices for their “despotism” after declaring as illegal the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or pork barrel and for disqualifying Reyes.

Velasco said the signature gathering started on Dec. 9. The members of Congress were allowed to read the resolution but the paper where they will affix their signature does not appear to form part of the resolution

“It is not far-fetched then to say that the signed blank paper may later on be used to support an impeachment complaint against the magistrates of the Supreme Court,” Velasco said in a statement Wednesday.

As of Dec. 10, Velasco said Umali already secured 100 signatures.

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