House panel finds sufficient grounds to oust Sereno

The House Committee on Justice on Thursday ruled that there are sufficient grounds to pursue the impeachment complaint filed against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Voting 25-2, the panel, headed by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, said that impeachment raps filed by lawyer Larry Gadon contained sufficient grounds, paving way for the committee to determine probable cause to oust the Chief Justice.

“With 25 votes in favor and two against, the motion is carried and approved,” Umali said after the panel voted in favor of the motion filed by Occidental Mindoro Rep. Henry Oaminal.

“The chair hereby declares the complaint sufficient in grounds. There is sufficient ground to impeach… that the complaint alleges sufficient ground for impeachment and we will now move to the next stage, which is the determination of probable cause,” Umali added.

Gadon indicted Sereno of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, corruption and other high crimes, which are grounds for impeachment, by failing to reveal her existent assets and net worth, buying a luxurious car with public funds and compelling judges to challenge the Duterte administration.

Only Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao and Quezon City Rep. Kit Belmonte moved to object Oaminal’s motion, saying the complaint should be avowed insufficient in bases as it is not backed by sufficient evidence.

Bag-ao insisted that most of the points posed by Gadon were insubstantial and not impeachable offenses.

“Marami pong allegation si Atty. Gadon na naghihintay lang ng ebidensya. In fact sinabi niya mismo sa kanyang reply na these are all evidentiary and will be established later,” Bag-ao said.

They also sought the committee to separately discuss and vote on each of the 27 claims cited in the complaint, but denied.

“If we go one by one, we can go over all the points and I am confident that we would not find any sufficient grounds,” Belmonte said.

Umali said the full discussion of the sufficiency of the complaint will be deliberated in the stage which is to determine the probable cause, referring to reasonable notion that the accused may be guilty of the charges.

In this level, Gadon will be asked to provide his allegations with support through evidence and witness accounts.

If the committee finds probable cause, the articles of impeachment derived from the impeachment grounds shall be reported to plenary for approval.

A vote of at least one-third or 98 of the 293 members of the House of Representatives sends the impeachment articles to the Senate, whose members will act as judges in an impeachment trial.

Meanwhile, the panel rejected to act on letters sent by Sereno’s legal counsel to request consent to cross-examine witnesses in the succeeding hearings.

The solons argued the letters were addressed only to Umali and not to the committee, therefore, not written in proper form.

However, Umali said the committee will soon decide on the plea of the chief justice’s camp, maintaining that only Sereno may be allowed to cross-examine her witnesses.

“This may be an interesting proceeding that may happen before this committee because, if we allow cross examination by either party, then this will enrich our proceedings,” the lawmaker said.

“If we allow the lawyers, how can we cross examine the lawyers? How can we ask clarificatory questions from who is not a party himself or herself?” he asked.