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Carpio declines House invite to testify in Sereno impeachment hearing


Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has declined the invitation of the House of Representatives justice committee to testify on matters concerning the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Carpio, in a letter received on Thursday by the office of House panel chairman Reynaldo Umali, said he has no personal knowledge of the issues the panel wants him to shed light on. These include allegations that Sereno tampered with the temporary restraining order in connection with the petition filed by Senior Citizens party-list and manipulated and delayed the transfer of Maute cases outside of Mindanao.

Carpio was also asked to testify on the allegation that Sereno lied and made it appear that several justices requested that they do away with the voting on recommendations to replace retiring members of the Supreme Court, and that she hired an information and communications technology consultant without public bidding.

"On 'all other allegations involving administrative matters and internal rules and procedures of the Supreme Court,' I wish to state that unless the allegations are made specific, I will not be able to comment or testify on such other allegations," Carpio said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by GMA News Online.

Carpio said he has no personal knowledge of the Senior Citizens issue and that he was on wellness leave on June 19, 2017, the day the request of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to transfer the Maute cases were supposedly raffled off.

"I was out of the country from June 19, 2017 to July 3, 2017," the magistrate said.

On the issue of recommendees to SC posts, Carpio said it has always been his position for the Court "to do away with the voting since the Judicial and Bar Council is an independent constitutional body and in any event it has not been following the recommendations of the Court for several years in the past."

Carpio also said he had no personal knowledge how the IT consultancy contract was procured.

"I came to know of such hiring only after the consultancy contract was questioned, long after it had been implemented and renewed. Besides, as of January 10, 2018, this matter is still under deliberation by the En Banc," he said.

The SC is looking into the legality of the appointment of ICT consultant Helen Perez-Macasaet, who was tapped in 2013 as consultant to review, assess, and update the implementation of the judiciary's Enterprise Information Systems Plan (EISP) and other related computerization and ICT projects aimed at improving adjudication of cases and court management.

She reportedly earned around P9 million from six contracts, each lasting six months, covering the period October 2013 to 2016.

House justice committee chair Reynaldo Umali, in a phone interview with reporters, said they will still have to discuss the letter of Carpio.

Three sitting magistrates—Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam—and retired SC justice Arturo Brion have already appeared before the committee, which is conducting hearings aimed at determining whether there is probable cause to elevate the complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo “Larry” Gadon to the Senate, which will act as the impeachment court.

Resumption of hearings

The House panel will continue its deliberations on the impeachment complaint on January 15 with Justices Lucas Bersamin, Samuel Martires, and Diosdado Peralta and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez expected to attend.

Umali said the testimonies of these resource speakers are important to clarify the allegations in the impeachment complaint.

"These will somehow substantiate 'yung mga aspect of transgression of the collegial nature of the Supreme Court and then yung mga other matters that transpired during the hearings that would show that there was violation, whether culpable violation of the Constitution or betrayal of public trust that will help strengthen the position of the prosecution if they will reveal all of this and support whatever that has been said," he said.

Umali is expecting his panel to finish their deliberations on the impeachment complaint against Sereno by the end of February.

"I am looking at February, depending on how the House of Representatives will conduct its business including that of constituent assembly," he said.

"By early March, we'll vote upon it, and then plenary. After that we will prepare the articles of impeachment and then probably during the break, file it so that when we resume ulit, we'll go for the Senate." —with Erwin Colcol/KBK, GMA News

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