Sereno camp wants 'perjurious, false' impeach case dismissed

MANILA, Philippines — The House Justice Committee should dismiss the impeachment complaint filed by Lorenzo Gadon against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for being based on "hearsay and perjurious statements," the chief magistrate's spokesperson said on Friday.

Josa Deinla, one of Sereno's spokespersons,  stressed that it was not justice panel's job to substantiate Gadon's "hearsay allegations." Otherwise, Deilan said, the committee would accused of tolerating the crime of perjury committed by the principal accuser.

Deinla also underscored the need for the complainant in an impeachment case to have personal knowledge of the facts that allegedly amounted to impeachable offenses.

"The entire nation witnessed how Gadon failed to truthfully tell the committee that he had personal knowledge of each of the allegation he presented to Congress," Deinla said.

"We strongly feel that a dismissal of the impeachment complaint—which should have not been entertained in the first place—is in order," she said.

She insisted that the panel should not allow itself to be used as a venue for Gadon to gather the evidence needed to support his claims.

READ: House justice panel considers subpoena for Sereno

Gadon wants the Philippine's top magistrate impeached based on four grounds- culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, corruption and other high crimes.

In his verified impeachment complaint, Gadon, a former lawyer of former President Gloria Arroyo and a defeated senatorial candidate of the Marcos-era Kilusang Bagong Lipunan party, listed 27 specific allegations that he said would warrant Sereno's removal from office.

Some of these allegations are falsification of a Supreme Court resolution on the appointment of an official to the Seventh Judicial Region, falsification of a temporary restraining order in a party-list case, delayed action of the requests for benefits of retired magistrates and their spouses and her failure to fully disclose her income in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

The chief magistrate's lawyers however said in their verified answer that the allegations were based on "conflated hearsay" from "libelous news reports." They described the whole impeachment process as an exercise based on so-called "fake news."

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Sereno's lawyers also pointed out that Gadon himself conceded that some of his allegations might not be impeachable offenses after all.

They also noted that some of Gadon's allegations were presented without any evidence while some were accompanied by proof contradictory to his own allegations and supportive of Sereno's defense.

Sereno's lawyers warned that Gadon may face perjury cases for claiming that the allegations in his pleadings were based on his "personal knowledge," authentic records or public documents.

They said that during the hearing on Wednesday it turned out that Gadon neither had personal knowledge or had authentic documents to substantiate his accusations.

"No less than the Rep. Rey Umali, chair of the House Committee on Justice, publicly admitted that Gadon may be liable for perjury for his false statements made under oath," Deinla said.

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During the panel's hearing on the existence of probable cause in Gadon's complaint, the lawyer admitted that his basis for his allegation that Sereno "falsified" a Court resolution was information from a "friend," who later turned out to be a newspaper reporter.

Gadon told panel members that Manila Times reporter Jomar Canlas supposedly got his information from Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castron, who denied providing the journalist with any information or document pertaining to the Court's deliberations.

Deinla said that this proved that this allegation was just "pure hearsay."

Gadon meanwhile downplayed the denial and said that what was being denied was that De Castro was the one who provided the information and not the existence of the memorandum on Sereno's supposed tampering of the TRO.