Sereno camp: Gadon ‘ignorant’ of legal process

(L-R) Atty. Justine Mendoza, Atty. Anzen Dy, counsel of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and spokesperson Atty. Josa Deinla arrive at the committee on justice in congress to file a rejoinder to the complaint of Atty. Larry Gadon. INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The camp of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is confident that the criminal case filed by principal impeachment complainant Atty. Larry Gadon will never prosper.

Lawyer Josa Deinla, one of Sereno’s spokespersons, said Gadon was “ignorant” of the law and the processes when he filed a graft complaint against the top magistrate with the “wrong office.”
Gadon on Friday, January 26, filed a complaint for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees against Sereno before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
READ: Lawyer files criminal raps vs Sereno for failure to submit SALN

“By filing a complaint with the Department of Justice against a government official immune from suit and filing it with the wrong office only reinforces and further exposes Atty. Gadon’s ignorance of the law and the processes,” Deinla said in a statement on Saturday.

“This is yet another desperate and laughable attempt by Atty. Gadon to push his sinister plot to remove the Chief Justice from office, fully aware that his impeachment complaint has no basis at all,” the spokeswoman stressed.

The lawyer said this was for her alleged failure to submit her statement of assets, liabilities and networth (SALN) for more than 15 years when she was a professor at the University of the Philippines (UP).

However, Deinla said Sereno has been “accurately and properly” filing her SALNs since she was appointed to the Supreme Court (SC) in 2012 and when she became Chief Justice in 2012.

“Her earnings from private law practice before she became an Associate Justice are reflected in her ITR (income tax return) filings and only the assets remaining from these earnings are reflected in her current SALNs,” Deinla said.

Moreover, lawyer Carlo Cruz, another spokesperson for Sereno, said in a text message that the Chief Justice was given a Certificate of Clearance dated Sept. 19, 2011 by the UP’s Human Resources Development Office.

The clearance, Cruz said, affirmed that Sereno “has been cleared of all academic/administrative responsibilities.”

“This would of course, include the SALN requirements,” he added.

Deinla then skewered Gadon’s act as “just another publicity stunt to attract the attention of the public whose interest in the ongoing impeachment proceedings is waning.”

“They know that all the allegations against the Chief Justice are mere concoctions to unjustly oust her,” she said. /jpv