The camp of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno on Monday formally filed a motion asking the House Committee on Justice to allow her legal team to confront and cross-examine witnesses on the impeachment complaint against the Chief Magistrate.
In a four-page motion, Sereno’s camp, led by Alex Poblador, asked to recognize the Chief Justice’s constitutionally guaranteed rights to be represented by a legal counsel and to confront the witnesses against her through lawyers representing her in the impeachment proceedings.
Sereno also asked the panel to allow them to object to improper questions during direct examination and be furnished with all the documentary and testimonial evidence in support of the charges against the Chief Justice.
“The confirmation was sought in light of public pronouncements by some members of this honorable committee, and in order to be clarified and assured that the procedure, which the committee would adopt during the hearings, would respect the basic rights of the Chief Justice as a respondent in an impeachment proceeding,” the motion stated.
Earlier, Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali of the Second District of Oriental Mindoro, the panel chairman, said House impeachment rules do not allow that the respondent will be represented by lawyers.
“We are not depriving anyone of his or her right to confront witnesses. If she wants to confront witnesses, she can confront them personally, subject to the decision of the body politic,” Umali said.
According to Umali, Sereno’s possible cross-examination of the witnesses are still subject to the approval of lawmakers.
“Not all the congressmen are in favor of her impeachment. So they have to find an ally who will support her cause,” Umali added.
The House Committee on Justice has found sufficient grounds in the impeachment complaint against Sereno.
The panel would proceed to the next stage, which is the determination of probable cause, after the Congress Halloween break. The break will start this week on Thursday and will end on November 12.
The complaint filed by lawyer Larry Gadon contains four grounds, including corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes. The complaint also alleged 27 acts constituting the offenses charged against the Chief Justice.
The committee will call on the complainant, and the respondent to present their case before voting on the determination of probable cause.
After the determination of probable cause, the articles of impeachment will be created and will be transmitted to the plenary for approval. The lower chamber needs 196 votes or two-thirds of all of its members before the articles be sent to the Senate that will act as an impeachment court.
‘Hatchet job’
Meanwhile, Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez on Monday dismissed the allegations hurled against him by the group Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment (FATE) as part of a “hatchet job” in a bid to divert public attention from the substance of the accusations raised against Sereno.
In a news statement, Alvarez dismissed as baseless FATE’s allegations that the House hearings on Sereno’s impeachment could be railroaded.
Such allegation, according to Alvarez, betrays the weakness of Sereno’s evidence in her defense.
He added this was the same public-relations tactic employed against him and the House of Representatives when they investigated the P6.4-billion shabu-smuggling case involving former Customs officials.
Alvarez also denied that the House is controlling the impeachment hearings because he has an ax to grind against Sereno for allegedly testifying against him in the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) case.
He said all the cases against him related to the Piatco case were all dismissed and that Sereno did not testify against him as FATE alleged.
Alvarez said that, aside from the allegations against Sereno’s income derived as member of the government’s counsel, the Piatco case has nothing to do with the impeachment case against her.