Sereno denies sitting on land dispute case involving PNB

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Thursday denied the allegation that she sat on the land dispute case involving former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) commissioner Eligio Mallari and the Philippine National Bank (PNB).

“Atty. Mallari claims that the case has been pending for 37 years. This is untrue. There have already been three decisions by the Supreme Court on these parcels of land, all of which are entitled ‘Spouses Mallari vs. PNB’: G.R. no. 61093, decided on May 25, 1988, G.R. no. 106615 on March 20, 2002 and reversed on January 15, 2004,” Sereno said.

Mallari, however, filed another petition in 2013 with the high court in connection with the two parcels of land in San Fernando City, Pampanga.

Sereno said this case was initially raffled off to the First Division but later, as a result of the movement caused by retirements, it was transferred back and forth from the First Division to the Third Division, and back to the First Division in the latter part of this year.

"All the documents or communications forwarded by both parties, Atty. Mallari and the PNB, may be found in the rollo, for consideration of the Court," she said.

"That the matter is with the First Division, which the Chief Justice chairs and of which Associate Justice Teresita L. De Castro is the working chairperson, is by itself insufficient basis to charge anybody for undue delay," Sereno said.

The top magistrate reminded Mallari that the SC is a "collegial and deliberative body which adjudicates en banc or in division."

She also advised Mallari and the public to thoroughly verify the facts before coming to any conclusion regarding cases.

"After all, a precondition to justice is the truth," Sereno said.

Mallari has already asked the House of Representatives justice committee to include the land dispute in its deliberation on the impeachment complaint against Sereno. —KBK, GMA News