Lawyer wants to testify vs. Sereno in House impeach proceedings

A lawyer has asked the House Committee on Justice to allow him to stand witness at the impeachment hearing against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes on a separate allegation that she delayed the resolution of cases involving the ownership of two parcels of land.

At a press conference in Quezon City, lawyer Manuelito Luna aired their plea to the House panel to allow another lawyer, Eligio Mallari, to testify against Sereno.

"We are pleading to the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives na sana i-consider nila itong sitwasyon na ito at ipa-testify si Attorney Mallari dito sa impeachment proceedings," Luna said.

Mallari, president of the Vanguards of the Philippine Constitution Inc., had filed two cases against Philippine National Bank and the Court of Appeals over his claim for ownership of two parcels of land located in San Fernando, Pampanga.

He alleged, however, that the Supreme Court failed to act upon the petitions he filed in relation to these cases. He even added that these were even transferred from one division to another.

"Napag-alaman namin na pinapasa-pasa nila itong dalawang kaso na ito from one division to another and back. Nagmula sa First Division, trinansfer sa Second Division tapos after several years balik na naman sa First Division," Luna said.

"This can be considered as inordinate delay. At si Chief Justice Sereno, bilang lider ng Korte Suprema, dapat hindi niya ito pinapayagan, lalo na that she is the chairman of First Division kung saan itong mga kasong ito na-raffle originally at kung saan ibinalik itong mga kasong ito," he added.

Luna said Sereno's failure to act upon the cases already constitutes an impeachable offence.

"Ang Constitution mismo ang nagsasabi na dapat walang inordinate delay kasi ang ating mga mamamayan... ay may right to speedy disposition of cases. Paano naging speedy ang action dito ng Korte Suprema if they are dragging their feet dito sa dalawang kaso na ito?" he said.

Mallari said he had already written to House panel chair Reynaldo Umali on December 12, 2017 regarding his interest to testify in the impeachment hearing.

"Sabi ng Committee on Justice, idaan muna sa Office of the Secretary General. In fact after filing this letter to the chairman of the Committee on Justice, pina-disseminate ko sa lahat ng member ng Committee on Justice itong letter," he said.

Luna is hoping that Umali would grant Mallari's request to testify in order to shed light on the issue.

"Ang aming panalangin kay committee chairman Rey Umali ay bigyan ng opportunity si Atty. Mallari bilang isang mamamayan para ilahad niya 'yung kanyang nalalaman tungkol dito sa nangyari dito sa kanyang mga kaso because this has bearing on the impeachment case," he said.

The House justice panel is current conducting deliberations to determine probable cause on the impeachment complaint lodged against Sereno. —KBK, GMA News