MANILA — Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II will appear on Tuesday before the House justice committee to testify in the impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Aguirre said he received an invitation to the hearing from the House justice committee chaired by Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali.
He was supposed to appear before the House Committee on Monday but requested to move his attendance to Tuesday due to a prior engagement.
“There is invitation today (Monday) but i requested to be transfer tomorrow (Tuesday) because of the occasion, “Aguirre told reporters after the turned over ceremony of the 2017 edition of Manual for Prosecutors and Developed Projects Outputs held in Diamond Hotel in Manila on Monday.
Aguirre will testify in the impeachment hearing against Sereno in the House of Representatives on the issue of the alleged foot-dragging of the Supreme Court in ordering the transfer of cases of Maute members from Cagayan de Oro to Metro Manila.
Lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, the complainant in the impeachment case against Sereno, accused the latter, among others, of manipulating and delaying the resolution of Aguirre’s request for transfer of Maute cases outside of Mindanao.
Gadon’s allegation stemmed from Aguirre’s letter request to Sereno last May to transfer the proceedings of detained Maute members facing rebellion charges to Metro Manila due to security concerns and lack of adequate detention facilities.
On June 6, the SC assigned the Cagayan de Oro Regional Trial Court (RTC) to hear, try and decide all cases and incidents in connection with the Marawi attacks.
The DOJ chief then made an appeal, citing security concerns forwarded by prosecutors assigned to conduct inquest proceedings and appear in the trial of cases and lack of adequate facilities inside Camp Evangelista, the headquarters of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.
Aguirre’s request for Taguig courts to try and resolve the cases was finally granted during an en banc session on June 27 but it was only made public by the SC on July 18.
“Sereno has been delaying the issuance and release of the resolution because she failed to get a majority vote on her desire to keep the Maute and similar cases in Cagayan de Oro City, to the detriment of the service,” the impeachment complaint stated.
“Indeed, the intentional delay on the part of respondent Sereno to issue and release the much-awaited resolution, only because she has lost in the vote, is another count of culpable violation of the Constitution,” it said.
Sereno denied the allegation, saying it was false and based on hearsay.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives’ justice committee on Monday continued its deliberation on the determination of probable cause in the impeachment complaint against Sereno even without the presence of majority of the invited resource persons.
Jomar Canlas, Manila Times reporter appear before the House Committe on Justice, said he does not and has not revealed his sources.
Canlas, who covers the judiciary has written exclusive stories about the Supreme Court, citing anonymous sources and insiders.
“I have never revealed to anyone my sources. I deny De Castro was my source,” Canlas testified on Monday, referring to Associate Justice Teresita de Castro.
Gadon said last week De Castro is the source of some information he stated in his complaint, particularly the internal administrative matters.
Gadon said he got the information from De Castro through a common “friend,” whom he identified as Manila Times reporter Jomar Canlas.
De Castro denied Gadon’s claim, saying that she has “never released to Jomar Canlas any information, report, or document regarding the work of the Supreme Court.”
Umali said that while he respects the internal rules of the SC, he called on it to likewise respect the internal rules of the impeachment committee.
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, committee chair, said Associate Justices Teresita De Castro and Noel Tijam will not be able to attend the impeachment proceeding today as they still seek clearance from the court en banc for their appearance.
Other court officials also have to wait for SC en banc’s approval. De Castro, Tijam, and other magistrates were invited to attend the hearing to shed light on the allegation that Sereno falsified several documents issued by the high court.
Other SC personalities invited were SC clerk of court Felipa Anama, court administrator Jose Midas Marquez, Public Information Office chief Theodore Te, Judicial and Bar Council Executive Officer Annaliza Ty-Capacite, among others.
Umali said the committee deliberations set from Monday until Wednesday would cover the grounds of culpable violation of the Constitution and corruption.
The two remaining grounds for impeachment, specifically betrayal of public trust and other high crimes, will be tackled by the justice committee on December 4, 5, and 6.
The committee, after the deliberations, will then vote on probable cause and formulate the articles of impeachment afterward. (PNA)
