Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 27) — Supreme Court justices and officials were a no-show at the impeachment hearing of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in the House of Representatives Monday for lack of permission to attend from the High Court en banc.
The Impeachment Committee had invited Associate Justices Teresita De Castro and Noel Tijam, former Associate Justice Arturo Brion, and other Supreme Court officials to testify on the impeachment complaint against Sereno filed by lawyer Larry Gadon.
However, Tijam said in a letter to the committee that they needed permission from the Supreme Court en banc, where all 15 justices sit, before they could participate in the hearing.
De Castro and Brion said they also needed clearance from the full court to produce and use internal communications and other documents from the Supreme Court related to the impeachment complaint.
Both De Castro and Tijam assured they would attend the hearing if permitted.
The situation led the Committee to go into an executive session or closed-door meeting to discuss how to proceed. In the end, the Committee decided to respect the position of the absent witnesses and wait for the ruling of the en banc which will have its regular meeting on Tuesday.
The hearing resumed with the testimony of Manila Times justice reporter Jomar Canlas who allegedly gave Gadon the information that De Castro was angry with Sereno for changing a draft temporary restraining order (TRO) the Associate Justice had written.
Gadon said Sereno “deliberately tampered with and altered the contents” of the draft TRO.
In a November 20 statement, De Castro denied she spoke to or had given information to Canlas.
“I have never released to Jomar Canlas any information, report, or document regarding the work of the Court,” she said.
Gadon also claimed the chief magistrate falsified a resolution on the opening of a Regional Constitutional Administrative Office (RCAO) in 2012, and a TRO on the proclamation of some party-list groups in 2013.
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Quoting a 2013 report by Canlas, Gadon said De Castro questioned Sereno’s order to reopen the RCAO in Region 7.
After an almost 10-hour hearing on November 22, Impeachment Committee Chairman Rey Umali admitted some of Gadon’s allegations were based on hearsay and incomplete documents.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre was also invited to the hearing to testify on the allegation that Sereno intentionally delayed the Supreme Court resolution on transferring cases against members of the Maute Group outside Mindanao.
