Sereno lawyers expect fair impeachment trial

Lawyers of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Saturday said they are hoping the top magistrate will get a fair impeachment trial at the Senate.

“As an advocate, we do not expect fair treatment, we demand fair treatment not just for the Chief Justice but for any Filipino citizen who will be made to face charges like this,” Sereno lawyer-spokesperson Aldwin Salumbides said at a news briefing in Quezon City.

“Are we going to get fair treatment from the Senate? That remains to be seen but...we are hopeful, umaasa kami, and we have reasons to be somehow optimistic in the Senate, knowing that they are composed of honorable, respectable and generally decent individuals whom we elected,” he added.

Salumbides earlier said they are already gearing up for an impeachment trial at the Senate given how events unfolded during last Wednesday’s hearing by the House justice committee.

The House panel had barred from the chief magistrate's lawyers to cross-examine witnesses even after their constant assertion of the supposed right to counsel and to cross-examination.

Sereno's lawyers, however, remain hopeful that lawyer Lorenzo Gadon’s “weak” and “legally infirm” impeachment complaint will get dismissed.

They also wished for expedited House proceedings and the elevation of the articles of impeachment to the Senate, where they said they could confidently defend Sereno.

During the briefing, lawyer Joshua Santiago raised principle of good faith as he hoped for a fairer treatment of the impeachment case by potential senator-judges

“We always operate on the principle of good faith, believing that each office and government may function according to its mandate. Now, their decision not to follow that mandate is their choice,” Santiago, among the lawyers of Sereno, said.

He also believed that senators, even those who are allies of President Rodrigo Duterte, will be unbiased when they “take off their robes as senators and put on robes as magistrates” in the event of an impeachment trial.

The House justice panel will conduct its next hearing this Monday, November 27.

Sereno’s lawyers said they are expecting "the worst" during the next hearing and that the complaint will be elevated to the Senate "quickly."

They are confident that during the trial, they will be allowed to present their own evidence and cross-examine the witnesses that will be presented against Sereno. —ALG, GMA News