SC justice Martires willing to appear at Sereno impeachment hearing

MANILA, Philippines — Associate Justice Samuel Martires is also set to testify on the continuing impeachment proceeding against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

On the resumption of the House of Representatives' deliberation on lawyer Larry Gadon's impeachment complaint against Sereno, Rep. Reynaldo Umali (Oriental Mindoro) said the associate justice "conveyed his desire to join us also except that he has not gotten the authorization from the SC en banc."

Martires is the fifth justice willing to face the House justice panel — now calling itself the impeachment committee — as it continues to examine whether there is probable cause to impeach the chief magistrate.

Martires, a former Sandiganbayan justice, was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 2.

Associate Justice Teresita De Castro first faced the house panel on November 29 to testify on an allegedly falsified temporary restraining order issued by Sereno.

Others who have expressed their willingness to testify so far are Associate Justices Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam, and retired Justice Arturo Brion.

READ: Justices cleared to attend impeachment hearing vs Sereno

Umali said that Martires "conveyed that in the next hearings that he will join us."

"We really thank the SC en banc for its quick action on matters that have bearing in this impeach proceeding and likewise to whoever expressed their willingness to participate," Umali added.

Clerk of court testifies

The House panel continues to deliberate on the impeachment rap filed by Gadon.

On Wednesday, committee members grilled Felipa Anama, SC Clerk of Court, on the supposed delay of the decision on Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II's request to transfer Maute cases to Taguig.

Gadon claims in his complaint that Sereno delayed the issuance of the resolution because she failed to get a majority vote on her desire to keep the Maute cases in Cagayan de Oro City “to the detriment of the service.”

“Indeed, the intentional delay on the part of respondent Sereno to issue and release the much-awaited resolution, only because she has lost in the vote, is another count of culpable violation of the Constitution,” the complaint alleges.

Sereno denied this accusation saying it was false and was based on hearsay.

READ: Aguirre: Sereno asked me to tone down Maute case transfer letter

A squabble ensued between the lawmakers and Anama when the latter invoked internal rules of court on the raffling off of cases among the justices.

Umali, who was visibly irked by Anama's continued refusal to answer, said the clerk of court is "not being cooperative with the committee."

He stressed: "We are performing constitutional duty. No one, and I mean that, no one is above the law."

Umali asked for a break to allow the invited resource persons from the SC to talk about how they will approach questions from lawmakers.

The house panel will resume its examination of Gadon's verified impeachment complaint on 1:00 p.m.