Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 12) — Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza accused Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno of committing treason when she “illegally secured” and made public the contents of a secret document he wrote in 2014.
In the impeachment hearing in the House of Representatives on Monday, Jardeleza said the chief justice used information in his memorandum to then President Benigno Aquino to block his appointment to the Supreme Court, questioning his loyalty to the country.
Jardeleza was referring to a memo he wrote over three years ago proposing the exclusion of Itu Aba, which is occupied by Taiwan, from the case filed by the Philippines against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague.
“Sa pananaw ko ang chief justice ang nag-Hudas sa bayan natin. Bakit niya kinuha itong document? Ito ay illegally secured. Ibabalik ko sa kanya ang paratang,” he fumed. “Hindi ako disloyal. Siya ang disloyal.”
(Translation: It was the chief justice who committed treason. The document was illegally secured. I am not disloyal, she is.)
Jardeleza, who was then solicitor general, was a member of the legal team that represented the country in the landmark case. In his memo, Jardeleza warned that the PCA could declare Itu Aba, which is also claimed by the Philippines, an island. If that would happen, Itu Aba (known as Ligao in the country) would generate a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for Taiwan which would overlap with that of the Philippines.
Jardeleza also accused Sereno of betraying the country when she called Itu Aba “the largest island in the Spratlys.”
Sereno is accused of, among others, manipulating the selection process of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). Jardeleza was initially removed from the JBC’s short list of nominees to the Supreme Court in 2014 after Sereno questioned his integrity because of his memo.
Former Associate Justice Arturo Brion and Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, and Noel Tijam backed Jardeleza.
“This is a case about the power of the President to appoint. I say that if SolGen Jardaleza can be purposely excluded, then the power of the President would have been curtailed, dahil hindi na siya kasama sa pinagpipilian (because he was excluded from the options),” Brion said.
Jardeleza appealed the decision to remove him from the JBC short list and the Supreme Court en banc ruled in his favor. He was then appointed by Aquino to the High Court.
Despite Jardeleza’s memo, Itu Aba was not excluded from the arbitration case. The PCA declared it a “rock” — which does not generate an EEZ — in its 2016 ruling that favored the Philippines.
