Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 10) — The lawyers of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Tuesday expressed hope the President will change his mind about filing another impeachment complaint against her.
The 27 complaints that support four charges of violating the Constitution, corruption, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes are “bogus” and “based on fake news”, said Attorney Jojo Lacanilao, a lawyer and spokesperson for Justice Sereno told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
“I hope he reads the complaint, the answer, the reply, and the rejoinder… If he reads it he will understand that this is a bogus complaint based on fake news,” Lacanilao said.
Speaking to the press on October 4, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was looking into filing an additional impeachment complaint against Sereno.
“Yes, because that is punishable under [Republic Act] 3019. And that is the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law,” said Duterte of issues surrounding Sereno’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth.
“Alam mo kay Sereno… wala kaming dynamics. Wala nga akong galit kay Sereno… But the problem is… the law should apply to all,” the President added.
However, Duterte is also known to have changed his mind before, said another Sereno spokesperson Attorney Josalee Deinla.
“We have faith in the President, that he can still be enlightened with the documents that have already been filed at the House of Representatives, and also we have faith in the democratic process under the Constitution,” Deinla also told The Source.
The Chief Justice faces an impeachment complaint at the House of Representatives. The impeachment complaint filed by Attorney Larry Gadon alleged Sereno misdeclared her wealth in her SALN and manipulated the Judicial Bar Council among other offenses.
Voting 25-2, the House Committee on Justice found the complaint against Sereno to have sufficient grounds on October 5.
Related: House panel finds sufficient grounds for Sereno impeachment
However, her lawyers maintain that the Chief Justice could not have imposed her will on the Supreme Court or the Judicial Bar Council, as both are collegial bodies.
“She did not do anything outside of the system, outside of the internal rules of court, or any other administrative procedures that the court has,” Lacanilao added.
Sereno’s camp maintained evidence is lacking and does not prove any of the charges against her. They expressed dismay that the complaint was deemed sufficient by the House panel even without tapping into witness accounts.
“We were kind of disappointed because during the hearing, our expectation was that… the committee would actually go behind the allegations, look for the evidence, look for the substance of the complaint. But they didn’t do that,” said Lacanilao.
Sereno’s lawyers also denounced Gadon’s suggestion to include Duterte as a prosecutor in the impeachment case. They maintained only the House of Representatives had exclusive jurisdiction over the proceeding.
Related: Allow Duterte as special prosecutor in Sereno impeachment – Gadon
“It’s actually a major blunder for him, who happens to be a lawyer, proposing something unconstitutional and legally indefensible,” said Deinla.
“It is the exclusive jurisdiction of the House of Representatives to be acting on the impeachment proceeding as of now. The President has no role in that whatsoever,” she added.
The lawyers of the Chief Justice are seeking the right to cross-examine potential witnesses, which Gadon claims include at least three Associate Justices.
Sereno has been critical of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs and the burial of late president Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani. The President’s critics maintain the charges against Sereno are an attack on the independence of the judiciary.
