Lawyer Larry Gadon INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
Just a delaying tactic.
This was how lawyer Larry Gadon slammed on Saturday Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s repeated appeal for her “right to counsel” on her impeachment proceedings before the House of Representatives.
Gadon said that while the right to confront and examine the witnesses through a counsel is absolute in criminal and civil cases, the same cannot be done in an impeachment proceeding, which he described as a “political process to determine the fitness of a high government official.”
READ: Sereno camp tells Gadon to ‘review his law’, insists on ‘her right to counsel’
“The numerous motions and requests of the lawyers of Sereno is a perfect example of the usual and common delaying technicality issues that should be prevented in a political proceedings like an impeachment case,” Gadon, the lawyer who filed the impeachment case against Sereno, said in a statement.
“Impeachment cases being political in character cannot afford delays created by lawyers as if they are still on the stage of regular courts where all the skills in delaying tactics are employed to the hilt and at times abused,” he added.
On Friday, Sereno, through her spokesperson, said prohibiting her right to counsel would be a deprivation of her rights.
“Atty. Lorenzo Gadon should review his law. Any impeachment proceeding, while political in character, does not take away the constitutional rights of the respondent. This political process is imbued with judicial character akin to a criminal prosecution,” Jojo Lacanilao said in a statement.
“We make a mockery of the law and the Constitution if the Chief Justice is denied her right to counsel, and by depriving her of this right, we also deny her the right to cross-examine the complainant and the witnesses through her lawyers,” Sereno’s spokesman added.
Reacting to this, Gadon insisted that the chief magistrate had not been deprived of her rights.
“Who says that she is being denied of her right to counsel? When she filed her answer she was represented by counsel… when she filed the rejoinder she was represented by counsel… if and when the trial is conducted she will be represented by counsel,” he said.
Gadon also called Sereno’s appeal as a “misplaced stand” because it is against the rules of the House.
“After all they are both lawyers, one is Chief Justice no less. The House has its own rules, they have observed said rules consistently before, so why change it just to accommodate the respondent’s lawyers tactics?” he said.
“If the House will blink on this, chances are there will be no end to numerous motions and delaying tactics,” he added.
Gadon wanted Sereno be impeached for allegedly hiding her real wealth and for issuing administrative orders without the concurrence of her colleagues in the SC. /jpv