Akbayan statement on impeach hearings disturbs Leyte solon

Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso on Tuesday urged the House leadership to “take a serious look” into the statement of a fellow lawmaker who called the impeachment hearings against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno a “f**ked up” proceeding.

“May I request that you take a serious look at this allegation because this is very serious coming from a member of the Congress,” Veloso, a former justice, said during Tuesday’s resumption of the hearing.

The House committee is conducting a hearing to determine whether there is probable cause to impeach Sereno.

Veloso was apparently referring to Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin, who issued a statement last Thursday, calling the impeachment hearings a “charade heading nowhere but to a ‘monumental fuck up.’”

“I believe that this charade is heading nowhere but to a ‘monumental f**k up’ that the House should immediately dismiss so we can tackle other important business like the BBL and other priority legislation. Otherwise, the public will have a bland Yuletide entertainment from the House,” Villarin said in his statement.

Villarin was criticizing the way lawyer Lorenzo Gadon and Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita de Castro testified during the hearing last Nov. 29, saying they failed to add anything substantive that would give probable cause for the trial to proceed.

Committee chairman Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali then referred Veloso’s concern to the House committee on rules. /jpv

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