Alvarez to Sereno: Why the hurry to go to Senate?

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno. (File photos by LYN RILLON and GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

“Maybe she wants to hurry up and go to Senate because she thinks she has the numbers there.”

This was ther reaction of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Sunday to the repeated statements of the legal team of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for the House of Representatives to wrap up its hearings and impeach her, so the Senate could finally begin its trial.

According to a transcript by the House media bureau, Alvarez said in Iloilo that Sereno “should wait” for the House to finish its hearings when it would be ready to do so because she could not “dictate to us [what to do].”

He said the House justice committee had been taking its time to conduct its hearings on the determination of probable cause to impeach Sereno so that the people coud “watch and see there really is evidence” against her.

On Monday, the committee issued a subpoena for the records on Sereno’s psychiatric evaluation when she applied for the judiciary’s top post.

Alvarez said the psychiatrists would testify that she did not meet the required qualifications for mental fitness.

“Ang mahirap, may tililing na justice,” he said. “Kita niyo naman yung actions. Talagang may tililing, di ba? Kayo na ang humusga, huwag na ako.”

“The problem is, the justice is loony,” he said. “You can see for yourself her actions. She’s really loony, isn’t she? You be the judge, not me.” /atm