‘Blowout’ joke among SC Associate Justices a breather in House impeach hearing

Supreme Court (SC) magistrates exchanged jokes during the House impeachment hearing against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Monday, offering a short respite from the serious hours-long proceeding.

This started when Associate Justice Samuel Martires asked some House justice committee members to stop praising him for issuing a court order granting the survivorship benefits to the spouses of justices and judges.

“Mayroon lang sana akong hihilingin na kung pwede, ‘wag niyo na akong purihin sa desisyon na ‘to dahil sa huling papuri ni Congressman Bondoc, sinisingil na ako ni Justice Bersamin ng blowout,” Martires said, deadpan.

Martires’ remark drew laughter from people inside the hall, prompting Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta to say, “Kulang pa ‘yon,” as he cited more instances when Martires should have treated his fellow justices.

“May blowout ‘yung sa oral arguments, ‘yong unang dissenting opinion, may blowout ’yon, ‘yong first session sa Baguio, may blowout ‘yon. Ganon kami sa Supreme Court, maraming blowout po,” Peralta said.

Some House lawmakers praised Martires for issuing a ruling that expedited the granting of pension benefits to the families of late justices and judges. Congressmen have criticized the creation of a special committee and technical working groups (TWG), which delayed SC’s action on the petition of the beneficiaries.

“Hindi ko kasi alam bakit may technical working group, eh? May duplicity,” Peralta said.

The formation of the committee and TWG was permitted by Sereno, Senior Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, and Presbitero Velasco.               /kga