Lawyer in land dispute with PNB asks House to include new evidence vs. Sereno

A lawyer with a pending land dispute before the Supreme Court (SC) has asked the House of Representatives' justice committee to include in its deliberation his allegation that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno did not act upon his case.

Lawyer Eligio Mallari, president of advocacy group Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution, accused the SC, under Sereno's leadership, of sitting on his petitions in relation to over two parcels of land in San Fernando City, Pampanga that the Philippine National Bank (PNB) has also claimed ownership over.

Mallari said the SC sat on the case since PNB wrote a letter to Sereno on Feb. 8, 2013, asking her to investigate an alleged attempt to influence the outcome of the case, being heard at the San Fernando Regional Trial Court in Pampanga, in favor of Mallari and his spouse Marcelina.

"These charges are supported by clear, admissible, relevant, material and convincing evidence, based upon my personal knowledge and authentic documents and records," Mallari said in his December 11 letter to House justice panel chairman Reynaldo Umali.

"I am filing these charges against Chief Justice Sereno, not only to protect, enforce and defend my and my family's rights of ownership and possession, but also, more importantly and imperatively, to protect the rights and interests of the more than 100 million Filipinos and of the future generation of Filipinos of this country--my one and only beloved country," he added.

At a press conference in Manila, Mallari and the Volunteers Against Crime Corruption (VACC) said they are hopping his allegation will be added to the pending complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo "Larry" Gadon since the integrity of the Chief Justice is put in question.

"He [Mallari] felt that this should be proper time to raise this now baka pwede naman patulan ng committee on justice because they are now dwelling on that issue [integrity]," said VACC member and former Negros Oriental representative Jacinto "Jing" Paras.

Sereno's camp had said it would not comment on the matter, which was first raised by Mallari on October 22.

"As he himself admitted, Atty. Mallari has pending cases, including disciplinary ones, with the Supreme Court. As such, we do not consider it appropriate to comment on these cases at this time," lawyer Josa Deinla, a spokesperson for Sereno, then said.

The House panel is currently holding hearings to determine whether there is probable cause to elevate the impeachment complaint to the Senate for trial. —ALG, GMA News