House to start impeachment hearings on Wednesday

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives will start hearings on the impeachment complaints against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista next Wednesday.

“We will tackle the complaints simultaneously,” Mindoro Oriental Rep. Rey Umali, justice committee chairman, told reporters yesterday after the House referred the impeachment petitions to his panel.

“We will initially meet on Wednesday and then decide on the schedule of hearings,” he said.

He said one option is for the committee to alternately hear the complaints against Sereno and Bautista.

“The deadline for us to submit a report on these three petitions (two against Sereno and one against Bautista) is the same, which is 60 session days,” he said.

Twenty-five House members endorsed one complaint against the Chief Justice, while 16 supported the other petition. Only three signed a resolution of endorsement for the complaint against Bautista.

Some congressmen have told journalists privately that the fact that 41 of their colleagues have endorsed Sereno’s impeachment shows that President Duterte and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez support the ouster move against her.

Several endorsers said it was Alvarez who asked them to sign the resolution of endorsement attached to the complaints against Sereno.

The Speaker has denied forcing his colleagues to affix their signatures.

“Whoever alleged that, bring them to me and I’ll slap them in front of you,” he has told reporters.

Vice President Leni Robredo has appealed to her former colleagues in the House to not use the impeachment process as a harassment tool.

Robredo, a former Camarines Sur congresswoman, is herself facing an impeachment complaint, though no House member has endorsed it.