MANILA – The House of Representatives’ justice committee on Thursday declassified the information on the results of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s psychiatric evaluation, which she reportedly failed.
During the committee voting on the existence of probable cause in the impeachment complaint against Sereno, Pampanga Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc raised the motion to declassify Sereno’s psychiatric test results as discussed in a previous executive session.
Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia seconded the motion.
Impeachment complainant lawyer Larry Gadon claimed that Sereno got a four out of five grade in her psychiatric exam. He claimed that “an applicant to any position in the judiciary with a grade of 4 is unfit for the job.”
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, justice committee chairman, said the results of the psychological evaluation could be used as evidence in proving the impeachment case before the Senate acting as the impeachment court.
“I-dedeclassify po natin para magamit natin probably as part of evidence (We should declassify it so we could use it probably as part of evidence [before the Senate impeachment court]),” Umali said.
Last week, the House justice panel went into an executive session with the two psychiatrists–Dr. Genuina Ranoy and Dr. Dulce Lizza Sahagun–who evaluated Sereno’s application for the top judiciary post.
Dr. Geraldine Tria, who was invited by the committee to evaluate the psychological test results, said Sereno possessed five out of nine symptoms of emotional and dramatic type of personality. (Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA)
