THE House of Representatives’ committee on justice is looking to hold three to four more meetings before it concludes its determination of probable cause in the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno, its chairman said.

“More or less (three to four meetings)….Basta weekly mayroon kami (hearings) until end of [February] tapos ’yun na (we’ll have weekly hearings until end of February and then, that’s it),” Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo V. Umali, chairman of the justice committee, said in a phone interview.

Mr. Umali said the proceedings are scheduled based on the availability of the resource persons invited. “Kasi ’yung iba pinapatawag namin, hindi available (My problem is… the availability of the resource persons. We summon them but some are not available). So we will have to reset it,” he said.

For the 15th hearing scheduled on Monday, Supreme Court associate justices Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro and Diosdado M. Peralta are expected to return and discuss the alleged manipulation of the short list in the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) and other matters.

In her previous testimonies, Ms. De Castro said the chief justice tampered the TRO on the Senior Citizen’s party-list group. Ms. De Castro also alleged that Ms. Sereno acted on her own in creating the Regional Court Administrator’s Office in Region 7 (RCAO-7).

Associate Justice Geraldine Faith A. Econg of the Sandiganbayan’s First Division was also invited to talk about the RCAO-7 where she was appointed chief, as well as the hiring of IT consultant Helen P. Macasaet.

Associate Justice Francis H. Jardeleza, in his earlier testimony, had noted his exclusion from a short list on the seat vacated by retired associate justice Roberto A. Abad.

Other SC officials, including court administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez, spokesperson Theodore O. Te, and bids and awards committee (BAC) chair Enriqueta E. Vidal were also summoned by the justice committee.

Meanwhile, JBC executive director Annaliza Ty-Capacite and selection and nomination office chief Socorro D’Marie T. Inting are going to be questioned about the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Senior Citizen’s party-list case and RCAO-7.

JBC members Jose C. Mendoza, Toribio E. Ilao, Jr., Maria Milagros N. Fernan-Cayosa, and Jose Mejia are expected to take part in discussions about the JBC and also about Ms. Sereno’s statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs).

Moreover, the House panel directed the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to look into the income tax returns of Ms. Sereno for possible liabilities following the chief justice’s non-filing of 17 SALNs. BIR was given until Feb. 19 to submit its findings to the committee.

The justice committee began its deliberation on the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo G. Gadon in October last year.

Ms. Sereno is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes. — M.N. Dela Cruz

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