House finds sufficiency of grounds in impeachment rap vs. CJ Sereno

The House Committee on Justice on Thursday found sufficiency of grounds in the impeachment complaint lodged against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

This, after 25 members of the panel voted for the motion of Misamis Occidental Representative Henry Oaminal to approve the finding of sufficiency of grounds in the complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo "Larry" Gadon against the Chief Justice.

Two members of the panel, on the other hand, voted against Oaminal's motion.

Members of the House panel who voted for Oaminal's motion were:

1. AN WARAY party-list Rep. Victoria Isabel Noel
2. Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr.
3. Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Divina Grace Yu
4. Majority Leader Rodolfo Farinas
5. 1-Ang Edukasyon party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro
6. Deputy Speaker and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro
7. Oriental Mindoro Rep. Salvador Leachon
8. Pangasinan Rep. Rose Marie "Baby" Arenas
9. Misamis Occidental Rep. Henry Oaminal
10. Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque
11. Kabayan party-list Rep Ron Salo
12. Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop
13. Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Ann Hofer
14. Deputy Speaker and Cebu City Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia
15. Cavite Rep. Roy Loyola
16. Quezon City 1st District Rep. Vincent Crisologo
17. Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Arthur Defensor, Jr.
18. ABS party-list Rep. Eugene De Vera
19. YACAP party-list Rep. Benhur Lopez
20. Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso
21. 1-SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta
22. COOP-NATCOO party-list Rep. Anthony Bravo
23. Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales
24. Pampanga 4th District Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc
25. Iloilo 4th District Rep. Ferjenel Biron

Voting against the motion were Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Baga-ao and Quezon City 6th District Representative Kit Belmonte

Gadon filed an impeachment complaint against Sereno, accusing her of culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, other high crimes, and betrayal of public trust.

The House panel has recently found the complaint sufficient in form and substance.

During Thursday's hearing, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, who is not a member of the committee, suggested that the panel should vote upon the 27 acts alleged in the complaint individually, not as a whole.

Deputy Speaker and Capiz Representative Fredenil Castro, however, said that while Lagman's suggestion is reasonable, it violates the very essence of determining sufficiency of grounds.

"In such determination, there is a hypothetical admission of each and every allegation in the complaint," Castro said.

"Therefore if we vote one by one, in effect it will be inconsistent with the rule that when we determine the ground on whether it is sufficient or whether they are sufficient, we go in conflict if we vote one by one," he added.

Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao, a member of the panel, supported Lagman's suggestion to vote upon the allegations separately.

Objecting to the motion of Oaminal, Bag-ao said Gadon himself had admitted that some of the allegations in the complaint may not be impeachable.

"He admitted in his reply na marami ay hindi naman impeachable," she said.

Bag-ao was referring to the Chief Justice's alleged misdeclaration of her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), her supposedly illegal acquisition of a Toyota Land Cruiser, and her alleged shortlists of the six vacancies in the Sandiganbayan, among others.

She added that some of the allegations in the complaint, which Gadon said were culpable violations of the Constitution, do not show the constitutional violations.

Quezon City Representative Jose Christopher "Kit" Belmonte joined Bag-ao in saying that the acts should be voted upon individually.

Representative Reynaldo Umali, justice committee chairman, however, pointed out the House panel will have the opportunity to discuss every allegation when they reach the point of determining of probable cause on the impeachment complaint.

"Even with one ground alone, we can proceed to declare that the same is sufficient. It may be, to my mind, asking too much, if we will go through it one by one," he said.

"But this is not yet probably the time to do that because we will still determine probable cause. And in the determination of probable cause, that is when we will have to go through it more methodically and we will have to look at each and every allegation to determine its sufficiency for purposes of impeachment," he added.

Following the approval of Oaminal's motion, Umali declared the impeachment complaint against Sereno with sufficient ground.

The House panel will then proceed to finding probable cause in the complaint in their next hearing.

President Rodrigo Duterte, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that he will file an impeachment complaint against Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita-Carpio Morales. —KG, GMA News