MANILA — The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the House of Representatives justice committee, dismissing the consolidated impeachment complaint against Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and six associate justices for insufficiency in substance.
“As expected and as the OSG said before, the impeachment cases against Supreme Court Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, and Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr., and Alexander Gesmundo will not see the light of day,” Solicitor General Jose Calida said in a statement.
Calida said his office is one with the Filipino people in lauding the junking of these frivolous impeachment cases against the “True Magnificent Seven”, who just performed their solemn duty of interpreting the Constitution even in the face of strong political and social currents.
The top government counsel added that the decisive action of chairman Oriental Mindoro Rep. Salvador Leachon and the 23 members of the House justice committee preserved the independence of the judiciary from baseless attacks of opposition legislators.
“Now, for the alleged ‘magnificent’ representatives who filed these baseless impeachment cases, the House committee on justice had just spoken. Will you now turn your ire on the committee members because they did not follow your flawed constitutional interpretation,” Calida said.
At least 23 members of the committee stood up and found the impeachment complaint insufficient in substance and only one found it sufficient.
“The seven consolidated complaints against Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and six members of the Supreme Court are declared by this committee to be insufficient in substance and thereby dismissed,” House justice committee chairman Salvador Leachon said.
The complainants were Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr., and Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano.
According to the House’s rules, the requirement of substance is met if there is a recital of facts constituting the offense charged and determinative of the jurisdiction of the committee. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
