House rules panel postpones deliberations on Sereno impeachment report

The House Committee on Rules has postponed its deliberations on the House justice committee's report on the impeachment complaint and the articles of impeachment against ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, who chairs the rules committee, made the announcement on Tuesday before his panel's regular meeting.

In an interview with reporters, Fariñas maintained that his panel would wait for the final ruling of the Supreme Court on the quo warranto petition against Sereno, which the high court granted last week through an 8-6 vote.

"We will hold in abeyance action on the committee report of the Committee on Justice," he said. "In fact, I have excluded [it] in our agenda because we will wait for the action of the Supreme Court out of respect to a co-equal department. It's a question of law."

Fariñas on Monday said the committee report is included in the agenda of his panel's meeting on Tuesday. But after the Supreme Court granted the petition against Sereno, he decided to remove it from the agenda.

"Nasa agenda namin ngayon but because overtaken by events that the Supreme Court has ousted respondent Sereno [ay] tinanggal na siya," he said.

"We read that she will file a motion for reconsideration, so out of respect sa Supreme Court, which has ruled that it has jurisdiction [over the petition], so hihintayin namin 'yung resolution on the motion for reconsideration," the lawmaker added.

Fariñas noted that the rules committee has 10 session days to calendar the committee report and the articles of impeachment for voting in the plenary.

"So hanggang pagbalik namin ng July, puwedeng doon ko na lang i-calendar. Baka naman by that time, tapos na ['yung quo warranto]," he said.

In case the Supreme Court grants Sereno's appeal, the impeachment complaint will again have "a life of its own," Fariñas said.

But if the court dismisses it and retains its earlier ruling, Fariñas said he would move to have the impeachment complaint against Sereno dismissed as well.

"Kung tanggal na siya, I will recommend to plenary to dismiss the complaint because it's already moot and academic," he said.

"We will vote on it because it's a committee report and all our committee reports are dispensed with and disposed by the plenary," Fariñas added. —KBK, GMA News