Gadon told to ‘review his law’ as Sereno camp insists on right to counsel

The spokesperson of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday advised lawyer Lorenzo “Larry” Gadon to “review his law,” saying the chief magistrate, like every citizen of this country, should be accorded the right to counsel.

In a statement, Sereno’s spokesperson and lawyer Jojo Lacanilao said Gardon “wants to take away” the constitutional rights of the Chief Justice.

“Atty. Lorenzo Gadon should review his law. Any impeachment proceeding, while political in character, does not take away the constitutional rights of the respondent. This political process is imbued with judicial character akin to a criminal prosecution,” Lacanilao said. 

“This means that the respondent, in this case Chief Justice Sereno, should be accorded the right to counsel and the right to cross-examine the complainant and the witnesses through her lawyers—the same rights that are guaranteed to every citizen of this country to ensure due process. This is what our Constitution clearly says,” he said.

Lacanilao said it would be a “mockery” of the law if Sereno is denied her right to counsel and cross-examine.

“It would be a pathetic farce if these constitutional rights are denied by Congress, whose members have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution,” he said.

“It is no mystery why Atty. Gadon wants to take away these constitutional rights from Chief Justice Sereno. He is afraid of his own ghost for putting together lies after lies in his impeachment complaint to unjustly unseat the Chief Justice and forward his crooked agenda,” Lacanilao added.

Sereno’s spokesperson vowed that Gadon’s “baseless charges will be unmasked.”

Gadon was quoted to have said that Sereno was the best person to conduct the direct and cross-examination being the chief justice “with the implied connotation of primus inter pares” or first among equals.

Gadon has accused Sereno of committing acts which serve as ground for her impeachment, such as culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, other high crimes and betrayal of public trust.

‘Nothing short of disturbing’

Like Sereno's camp, citizen movement Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and Environment (Pinoy Aksyon) on Friday also slammed Gadon and his impeachment complaint, especially after the latter earlier revealed in a television interview that Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro was among the justices who could testify against the chief justice.

Pinoy Aksyon described Gadon's revelation as a "questionable development." The group had earlier said the impeachment process should not be used as a "convenient tool to serve vested interests."

“An impeachment complaint is a serious matter. You don’t use it as a platform for personal vendetta,” the group said on Friday.

“To have someone like Gadon confidently saying that De Castro would back his impeachment complaint is nothing short of disturbing... Clearly, Sereno really has to watch her back at SC,” it added.

On a number of occasions, De Castro has raised several issues against Sereno and her orders.

In December 2012,  De Castro accused the Chief Justice of ordering the reopening of a judicial office in the Visayas and making it appear it had the go-signal of the full court when it did not.

Then in May 2013, De Castro accused Sereno of "deleting" a fellow magistrate's recommendation in the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the high court stopping the Commission on Elections from further proclaiming winning party-list groups in the May 13 elections.

Last July, De Castro called for a review of the administrative orders which were issued by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno allegedly without the approval of the court en banc.

One of the orders being contested by De Castro involved the appointment of Atty. Brenda Jay Mendoza in June 2016 as chief of the Philippine Mediation Center Office under the Philippine Judicial Academy.

De Castro said Mendoza’s appointment was approved by Sereno and two other senior magistrates through a memorandum that was not referred to the collegial body for its consideration.

De Castro also slammed Sereno for granting to members of her staff travel allowance for foreign travel "without the requisite Court en banc approval, which every justice has to secure to be authorized to travel abroad on official business."

De Castro also expressed concern about the delays in filling up key positions in the judiciary.

It was not immediately clear whether Sereno has already responded to De Castro's memorandum.

Right to counsel

The House justice panel has earlier found the complaint both sufficient in form and substance, and most recently, with sufficient grounds.

Sereno's lawyers has earlier sent letters to the House panel to assert the Chief Justice's right to counsel and cross-examination of the witnesses to be presented in the impeachment proceedings.

House justice committee chairman Reynaldo Umali, however, did not act upon on the letters in the panel's October 5 hearing, prompting Sereno's camp to formally file a motion for the committee to resolve the pleadings.

On Thursday, the House panel has sent an invitation to Sereno to attend its hearing next week on the determination of probable cause in her impeachment case. — MDM, GMA News