Roberto Cadiz
The impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno are governed by the “law of the jungle,” an official of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said on Monday.
“On Wednesday, the Chief Justice is about to be impeached in the House where the law of the jungle seems to be prevailing, or what they euphemistically refer to as the law of the supermajority,” CHR Commissioner Roberto Cadiz told reporters.
The House committee on justice will resume hearings on Wednesday on the impeachment complaint brought by lawyer Larry Gadon against Sereno.
“We see now attempts to undermine the [democratic] institutions. Aside from the CHR, the Supreme Court is under attack by way of filing an impeachment case against the Chief Justice,” he said.
Cadiz said individuals who upheld the rule of law under the Duterte administration were being “attacked mercilessly” and the institutions they represented were “put in jeopardy.”
President Rodrigo Duterte once threatened to abolish the CHR for investigating alleged extrajudicial killings in his bloody war on drugs.
Earlier this year, the House defunded the CHR but retreated when the Senate balked.
Sereno has angered Mr. Duterte by asserting the judiciary’s sole authority to discipline erring judges.
‘Pure fabrication’
She said the allegations in the impeachment complaint brought against her were “pure fabrication” and warned Gadon that he was perjuring himself.
Sereno said Gadon’s allegations were perjurious because they were “not based on personal knowledge.”
“I think [Mr.] Gadon has and will have many problems arising from the fact that he has perjured himself multiple times,” she said in a television interview on Monday.
She said Gadon could get into trouble for spreading lies about her.
“I don’t know how he can come and execute a verified complaint and say that he knows as a matter of personal knowledge all the allegations that he has said against me, and there are so many things that he’s saying against me,” Sereno said.
“On many accounts, those points are actually perjurious because I don’t know him at all. I’ve never met him,” she said.
“I don’t know how he came up with all of those allegations about my life and I haven’t even met him a single moment,” she added.
27 allegations
Gadon raised 27 allegations against Sereno, including misdeclaration of her finances, excessive use of judiciary funds, falsification of court resolutions, manipulation of the processes of the Judicial and Bar Council, and unfitness to lead the judiciary.
“Which of his 27 allegations is impeachable?” Sereno asked. “Shouldn’t he be the first to present evidence of my alleged guilt to show that I have betrayed the public’s trust and I deserve to be removed from office?”
She said the impeachment complaint was not just an attack on her but also an attack on the judiciary and on democracy.
“The impeachment proceedings are getting to be larger than myself. This is no longer just about me. It is about our democracy,” she said.
Asked whether she believed it was President Duterte who wanted her to be removed from office, Sereno said she had no personal quarrel with Mr. Duterte.
But she said she remembered that it was Mr. Duterte who called for her and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales’ resignation.
Morales’ office is investigating allegations of hidden wealth against Mr. Duterte and members of his family.
Due process
Sereno said she angered Mr. Duterte when she wrote him in August last year requesting that judges linked to the illegal drug trade be accorded due process.
“So does he have a hand in this impeachment? Well, I go by his official pronouncements,” Sereno said.
“I wish him success as a President, but I hope he understands that checks and balances are very, very important for any democracy,” she said.
The Chief Justice also said her lawyers were trying to determine whether Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had a role in the impeachment case against her.
She said that in 2007, she “testified against the onerous terms” of the contract between the government and Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) for the construction of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.