Lagman bares ‘delaying tactics’ of House on Sereno impeach move

Rep. Edcel Lagman INQUIRER file photo

An opposition lawmaker believes that the House justice committee is waiting for the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision on the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno “purposely to delay” the transmission of its “weak” articles of impeachment to the Senate.

Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman’s statement comes after the House committee, voting 38-2, has found probable cause to impeach Sereno.

READ:House justice panel finds probable cause to impeach Sereno

Lagman said he expected the committee’s decision.

“While as expected, the House Committee on Justice has found ‘probable cause’ for impeachable offenses against Sereno, it has held in abeyance the submission of the Articles of Impeachment to the plenary for approval by at least one-third of the House membership,” he said in a statement.

The lawmaker said this “procrastination” was due to the supposed need to wait for the High Court’s decision on the quo warranto action filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for the alleged failure of Sereno to submit copies of her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) when she was a professor in the University of the Philippines College of Law.

READ: Solgen Calida questions Sereno’s qualifications before SC

READ: CJ Sereno not worried of SC ‘political noise,’ says spox

Lagman said the “House leadership instigated and endorsed the filing of the quo warranto petition by Calida, for which reason, collusion cannot be discounted.”

The lawmaker reiterated that the quo warranto petition was “grossly flawed.”

READ: 7 justices must inhibit from Calida’s SC ouster plea vs Sereno — Lagman

Meanwhile, Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said the committee’s decision was a “merciless coup de grace against CJ Sereno” on international women’s day at that.

But he said Sereno’s fight is not lost upon as “this move will create a backlash against President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration for bringing to trial a Chief Justice who stood up against a bloody war on drugs, violations of the rule of law, and misogyny.”

“With her impending impeachment trial in the Senate, the public will now know how the administration used power to crucify those who stand for truth. It will be a monumental meltdown of the House when trial begins as no impeachable offenses have been committed by CJ Sereno, only lapses in character despised by other Justices and demonized by this administration,” he added. /jpv