INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
The complainants associated with the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption have expressed plans to submit additional evidence to shore up the impeachment cases against Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Lawyer Manuelito Luna, who assisted former Negros Oriental 1st Dist. Rep. Jacinto Paras in his case against Bautista, said on Wednesday that the complainant would submit documents he obtained from the Presidential Commission on Good Government to “augment the existing evidence on record” held by the House of Representatives committee on justice.
The said documents from the PCGG, an agency mandated to recover the ill-gotten wealth amassed during the Marcos dictatorship and chaired by Bautista from 2010 to 2015, would “prove the alleged ill-gotten wealth” the impeached Comelec chief himself supposedly acquired.
Paras previously said on Thursday that PCGG under acting Chairman Reynold Munsayac gave a report detailing how Bautista allegedly hired “ghost employees,” used the agency’s vehicles for his own benefit, paid “hundreds of millions of pesos” to the Divina Law Office using the funds of sequestered companies, and bought P20 million worth of gift checks.
Luna said they wanted to “help draft” the articles of impeachment to be filed in the Senate against Bautista and “we have these documents to turn over.”
It may be recalled that opposition lawmaker Albay 1st Dist. Rep. Edcel Lagman questioned why the case would be transmitted right away to the Senate, when the justice committee had not even tackled the substance of Paras’ complaint at length.
The House justice committee on Sept. 20 dismissed the complaint outright for insufficiency in form, due to a defective verification form. But lawmakers voted 137-75-2 in the House plenary to override the committee report and try him before the Senate, making Bautista the first-ever Comelec chairman to be impeached.
Justice committee chair Rep. Reynaldo Umali in past interviews said there may be a need to “look at how we will strengthen that case… [and] do some case buildup” first to ensure there will be an airtight case to prosecute.
Pivotal case against Sereno
Luna actually went to the House to retrieve the evidence submitted by VACC founding chair Dante Jimenez for his ill-fated impeachment complaint against Sereno. The justice committee on Sept. 13 dismissed his complaint also for insufficiency in form, but accepted the one separately filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon.
Luna said they would instead give to Gadon the internal documents gathered by VACC on the Supreme Court’s discussions and deliberations
“We think these are pivotal in the case against [Sereno] which we think will eventually reach the Senate impeachment court, because we believe the Gadon impeachment petition is strong and many of our countrymen support it,” he said.
Sereno had been accused of manipulating various SC decisions and court appointments, as well as failing to disclose the P30-million attorney’s fees she received for representing the government in its suit against Philippine International Air Terminals Company, Inc. (Piatco).