House leaders vow to scrutinize impeachment complaints against Chief Justice

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Any attempt to impeach Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno would receive the same tight scrutiny as the earlier failed bid to oust President Duterte, the House leadership warned on Thursday.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas cautioned the two groups of complainants who tried unsuccessfully on Wednesday to get an endorsement of members of the House of Representatives for their impeachment cases against the Chief Justice that they should have either personal knowledge of wrongdoing or solid documentary evidence.

Fariñas, in a message to reporters, said he read the complaint of lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, who went to his office to seek an endorsement.

He said he told Gadon that “his allegations must substantially comply with his verification that they are of his own personal knowledge and/or culled from authentic records.”

If the complaint is endorsed and referred to his committee on justice, Fariñas said, “I will subject it to the same scrutiny that I did with the Alejano complaint.”

Certified true copies

In March, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano filed an impeachment complaint against Mr. Duterte. The House junked the complaint in May after finding that Alejano had no personal knowledge of his accusations against the President, which were mainly based on news reports.

Fariñas noted attachments of newspaper reports to Gadon’s complaint, “so I advised him to get certified true copies of the SC orders or circulars that he is alleging to be parts of his causes of action.”

“If the SC will not give him copies of the SALN (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth) of the Chief Justice, or the JBC (Judicial and Bar Council) her alleged psychiatric report or the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) her ITRs (income tax returns), the Committee on Justice could subpoena them, if and when it reaches that stage of the impeachment proceedings,” he said.

Gadon later told reporters he had decided to postpone his filing until he could secure a substantial number of House endorsers.

In his complaint, Gadon accused Sereno of, among other things, failing to declare P37 million in lawyer’s fees in her net worth, purchasing a luxury car with public funds, manipulating judicial appointments, and pressuring judges to defy the administration.

Gadon cited as grounds of impeachment alleged transgressions by Sereno showing that she culpably violated the Constitution, betrayed the public trust, committed corrupt practices and other high crimes.

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Secondary complaint

Another impeachment complaint against Sereno was submitted to the House secretary general on Wednesday by Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption chair Dante Jimenez and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. president Eligio Mallari.

But that complaint was not considered to have been officially received as it did not bear the endorsement of a House member, a requirement under the 1987 Constitution.

Jimenez and Mallari accused Sereno of acting like a “dictator” by disregarding the decisions of the Supreme Court en banc and making unilateral decisions. —WITH A REPORT FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA