Palace distances self from impeach moves vs Sereno

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday steered clear of attempts of its allies in the House of Representatives to impeach Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and perhaps other Supreme Court justices over allegations of misuse of the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF).

“The executive department has no participation whatsoever in such impeachment efforts,” Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in Filipino.

“The investigation being done by Congress is part of its function as a lawmaking body,” he added.

Coloma was referring to the investigation being conducted by the House committee on justice led by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas of the Liberal Party.

Tupas headed the prosecution panel in the May 2012 impeachment of former chief justice Renato Corona whose “midnight” appointment by the Arroyo administration – replacing Reynato Puno – had been upheld twice overwhelmingly by the SC in May 2010.

Other lawmakers who made public their plans to initiate an impeachment complaint against SC justices were Reps. Rey Umali of Oriental Mindoro, Giorgiddi Aggabao of Isabela and Rodolfo Fariñas of Ilocos Norte – all prosecutors in the Corona trial.

Reliable STAR sources revealed that Aquino’s disappointment with Sereno – his first of four appointees to the Supreme Court – started when the chief magistrate kept on pushing for the candidacy of Commission on Audit Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan to fill the SC vacancy.

Tan is in the shortlist of four candidates the Judicial and Bar Council submitted to Aquino, from which he would pick the successor to retired justice Roberto Abad, who left the high tribunal on May 20 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

But the candidate Aquino reportedly prefers is Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, whom Sereno and senior associate Justice Antonio Carpio opposed in the JBC deliberations.

What reportedly infuriated Aquino even more was the refusal of all his SC appointees – Sereno, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Bienvenido Reyes and Marvic Leonen – to toe his line on the voided Disbursement Acceleration Program.

The four were among the 13 jurists who unanimously voted last July 1 against the DAP.

This reportedly led some House leaders to move for the impeachment of the four Aquino-appointed magistrates.

But Coloma clarified that the lawmakers’ inquiry into the JDF is also meant to help them draft new laws to strengthen their oversight function, especially on the use of government funds.

Motives obvious

For Sen. Francis Escudero, there’s no mistaking the investigation into the JDF as well as plans to impeach some magistrates were retaliatory moves by the administration-dominated Congress for the SC’s declaring DAP unconstitutional.

“Well, I cannot deny that the timing is bad and it really appears to be retaliation, especially the investigation on the JDF,” Escudero said.

But Escudero stressed an investigation into the JDF was not necessarily uncalled for since there are really questions on the use of the fund, considered the judiciary’s pork barrel.

Sereno was invited to attend the House hearing on JDF but turned it down, saying it was inappropriate and premature for the committee to summon the head of a co-equal branch of government at this time.

“Even if it looks like a retaliation, there are issues that must be explained because I don’t think that there is anything that can be considered as being above the law, so to speak,” Escudero said.

“The issues and principles of accountability and transparency apply to all, even to the Supreme Court, even to the Chief Justice as it does with the President and all of us,” he added.

He pointed out that this was not the first time the use of the JDF was questioned by Congress.

Escudero noted that the issue always crops up during hearings on the budget of the judiciary.

He recalled that there had also been a move to impeach former Chief Justice Hilario Davide over the same issue. – With Marvin Sy