Complainant Lorenzo Gadon attends the House of Representatives deliberation on impeachment of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. (File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Lawyer Lorenzo Gadon should be the one arrested for making perjurious statements and pressuring the Congress to violate the chief magistrate’s rights, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s camp said on Tuesday.
“Mr. Gadon cannot brush aside our fundamental laws,” Lawyer Josa Deinla, one of Sereno’s spokespersons, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“He is the one who deserves to be arrested or held in contempt for committing multiple perjurious statements and for putting pressure on Congress to violate the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the Chief Justice,” Deinla said.
Last Monday, Gadon said he would ask the House of Representatives to subpoena Sereno to compel her to appear before the House justice committee.
“If there are justices who could appear, what is the reason for a Chief Justice not to appear?” Gadon said.
But Sereno’s camp dismissed Gadon’s threat as “ridiculous.”
“This is yet another ridiculous statement from Mr. Gadon, who has discarded the law and turned a blind eye to our Constitution in exchange for his vain political ambition,” Deinla said.
“As earlier pointed out by House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, the Chief Justice—being a respondent in an impeachment proceeding—cannot be compelled to testify before the House Committee on Justice. The Chief Justice is not a witness subject to a subpoena process,” she stressed.
The House justice committee, chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, has held seven hearings to determine whether there is probable cause to pursue the impeachment against Sereno. The hearings will resume on January 14, 2018. /je