Alvarez says Sereno is ‘afraid of her own ghost’

Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is just afraid of her own ghost.

This was how House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez reacted on Tuesday to Sereno’s allegations that the impeachment case against her could have been fueled by “revenge and personal agenda.”

“Palagay ko ay natatakot po siya sa sarili niyang multo dahil alam na alam niya na ang ginawa nila sakin noon ay talagang imbento na mga accusations,” Alvarez said.

(I think she is afraid of her own ghost because she knows very well that what they did to me before were truly just invented accusations.)

“Ayun ang sinasabi ko wag nyo na ako isama dyan sa usapan na yan. Ginagawa mo pa akong dahilan eh hindi naman ako kasama sa impeachment mo eh hindi ako ang inireklamo.”

(That’s what I’m saying, do not drag me into it. You’re using me as an excuse but I’m not involved in your impeachment, I’m not the one being complained about.)

“‘Yung mga kaso ko before hinarap ko ng wala akong reklamo at sa mabuting palad na-dismiss lahat,” he added.

(All my cases before I faced them without complaints and fortunately, all of them were dismissed.)

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON, GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The speaker was referring to the time when he was implicated for awarding the Ninoy Aquino International Airport-Terminal 3 (Naia 3) build-operate-transfer contract to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) when he was senior assistant general manager of Manila International Airport Administration (Miaa).

In 2001, the Miaa-Naia Association of Service Contractors filed plunder cases against Alvarez as well as other officials for allegedly gaining something from the contract.

Sereno, in an interview over ANC’s Headstart, was asked on Monday if she believes Alvarez had a hand in the impeachment complaint as a way of getting back at her over the case.

“I testified against the onerous terms of the contract that was signed between the government and PairCargo (later named Piatco), and Speaker Alvarez at the time was part of the committee that approved the terms of reference for the contract,” Sereno said.

“Speaker Alvarez had a lot to do with the result of that bidding, and one of the cases in fact that was filed against him was precisely for the conflict of interest situation that he finds himself in. A company that his wife owned was the subcontractor for the construction (of Naia-3),” she added.

Asked if her testimony against Alvarez could be one of the reasons why he was pushing for her impeachment, Sereno said: “This is a matter that my lawyers are still considering.”

But Alvarez maintained that Sereno has nothing to be afraid of if she had done nothing wrong.

“Kung wala kang ginawang kalbalbalan wala dapat ikatakot doon. Kung wala kang kasalanan kahit saan ka dalhin di ka matatakot, pero kung alam mo tagilid ka eh talagang gagawa ka ng dahilan,” he said.    /kga