Velasco assures fair trial on Leonen impeachment case

Supreme Court Associated Justice Marvic Leonen. (File photo from Philippine Dailiy Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco assured there will be a fair trial on the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

Velasco said the House committee on rules will have three days from the resumption of the session on May 17 to refer the impeachment complaint against Leonen to the House committee on justice.

“Definitely with Chairman [Vicente] Veloso at the helm of committee on justice, sigurado tayong fair po yung magiging trial (we’re sure that we have a fair trial) regarding that impeachment complaint,” Velasco said in an interview.

Edwin Cordevilla, secretary general of Filipino League of Advocates for Good Government, filed an impeachment complaint against Leonen in December 2020.

Cordevilla claimed that the magistrate “clearly lacks integrity because he failed to file his statement of assets and liabilities and net worth” for 15 years during his tenure at the University of the Philippines.

The impeachment complaint was endorsed by Ilocos Norte Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba, a cousin of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos.

Leonen, who wrote the decision junking the electoral protest of Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo, has said that Congress should not spend time on “false issues raised by some for clearly personal or vindictive reasons.”

JE