Headline
House panel approves impeachment articles vs Sereno
FILE: Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (PNA photo)
The House of Representative Committee on Justice approved six drafts of the impeachment articles against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on March 19.
Chair of the Justice committee of the lower chamber Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali said that the impeachment article drafts included 24 out of 27 of the “impeachable acts” by Attorney Lorenzo “Larry” Gadon.
Thirty-three of the committee headed by Umali voted its approval of the drafts, while one dissented.
The lower chamber approved the impeachment against Sereno on the following grounds, constituting to culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes:
- Failing to file her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth (SALN)
- Misusage of 18-million worth of public funds
- Arrogation unto herself the powers of the Supreme Court by issuing resolutions without the approval of the en banc
- “Deliberate and malicious” abuse of her position as the high magistrate
- “Deliberate” undermining and violation of the principle of separation of powers of the executive, legislative, and judiciary
- “Willful and deliberate” failure to comply with her oath of office by “tyrannical abuse of discretionary power”
Earlier this March, with a vote of 38-2 with zero abstentions, the Justice committee ruled the top magistrate to be impeached from her position.
(Read: House votes to impeach CJ Sereno)
Representatives Kaka Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands and Kit Belmonte of Quezon City were the dissenters.
In late February, Umali already hinted that the impeachment case could be escalated to the Senate.
“Ganoon po ang nakikita ko kasi maraming na-establish kami during the hearing at marami nang nalinawan doon sa issues. At ngayon hindi na nila tinitingnan ‘yung issue being hearsay dahil walong Justice po ‘yong humarap na masasakit po ang sinabi patungkol po kay Chief Justice (That is what we are seeing because we have established a lot during the hearings and a lot of the lawmakers already found clarity with the issues. Now they are not looking at the issue as a hearsay because eight Justices have surfaced against the Chief Justice),” Umali said in an interview with DZBB on February 26.
