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 15^th 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

CANADIAN PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau is undeterred by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s vow to end military purchases from countries including the US and Canada that impose conditions on how the weaponry is used, standing by his country’s review of a helicopter sale.

“The statements that have been coming out of the Philippines on the potential or possible uses of those helicopters have given us cause to need to follow up on that, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Mr. Trudeau said Saturday in Los Angeles, during a visit with the city’s mayor.

Mr. Trudeau responded after Mr. Duterte on Friday said he’s scrapping the acquisition of 16 Canadian Bell helicopters.

“Do not buy anymore from Canada or from the United States because there is always a condition attached,” Mr. Duterte told reporters in Davao City, where he previously served as mayor, on Friday before announcing in a subsequent speech that the deal would be canceled. The Canadian government denied the deal had been scrapped.

Canada ordered a review a day after the agreement was signed amid concern that the aircraft would be used against Filipino rebels. Mr. Duterte didn’t deny that: “We will really use these weapons invariably against the rebels and terrorists,” he said on Friday, according to a transcript provided by his office.

Mr. Trudeau said Saturday that Canada has a responsibility to look into how equipment it sells, whether military or not, is used. His administration has referred further questions to the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), a government agency that handles such sales.

The Canadian agency declined to comment, citing the review. “As we are involved in that process, it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this time,” the CCC said in an e-mailed statement that didn’t identify a spokesperson.

Since taking office in June 2016, the 72-year-old Mr. Duterte has launched a crackdown on drugs that’s killed thousands, prompting an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in the Netherlands for alleged human rights violations. Months into his term, the US halted a planned sale of 26,000 assault rifles to Philippine police on concern over the killings. Mr. Duterte responded by scrapping the weapons deal.

Despite concerns over Mr. Duterte’s handling of the drug war, the US military provided hundreds of weapons to the Philippine Marines in 2017 as part of an American counter-terrorism program in the country. Still, since the canceled 2016 arms sale, Mr. Duterte and other Filipino officials have complained that purchasing weapons from the US is a slow process beset with too many conditions.

“That’s why we are discouraged from getting from them, because of these conditions,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters in May.

Mr. Duterte has instead worked to secure weapons deals and stronger relationships with Russia and China. In October, Russia gave the Philippines 5,000 rifles, 5,000 steel helmets and a million rounds of ammunition, a day after the countries signed two arms agreements. China gave the Philippines 3,000 rifles the same month as a friendly gesture.

The brash, tough-talking leader, who enjoys strong support at home, threatened to withdraw from a treaty that helped form the ICC, while daring it to execute him if he’s found guilty of crimes against humanity. Mr. Duterte vowed to eliminate illegal drugs, corruption and bureaucratic red tape when he became president.

“Find me guilty, of course, you can do that. I don’t want imprisonment,” he said at the briefing. “I beg of you to find a country where they execute.”

This isn’t Mr. Duterte’s first spat with Canada. In November, he lashed out at Mr. Trudeau and visiting officials from Europe over their criticism of alleged human rights abuses committed as part of the country’s drug war.

Mr. Trudeau was among a handful of world leaders who criticized the drugs crackdown while in Manila last year to attend meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. — Bloomberg

SENATORS Leila M. de Lima and Sherwin T. Gatchalian on Sunday urged the government to also extend its assistance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, following the President’s recent pronouncements on a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait.

Ms. De Lima urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to implement contingency plans for displaced OFWs in Qatar.

“The government should ensure that OFWs would be assisted in finding decent jobs back home or other overseas destinations, if not help them set up business and livelihood in the country,” she said in a statement.

She also asked the Senate to act on a resolution she filed last June calling for an assessment on the impact of Qatar’s diplomatic crisis on OFWs working in Arab countries. Over 600 Filipino lost their jobs at the time, according to DoLE, following Saudi Arabia and Bahrain’s severing relations with Qatar over its alleged support for Islamic extremist groups.

Mr. Gatchalian called on the government to look into the situation on Saudi Arabia where abuses among Filipino household service workers were also reported, and to consider ordering another OFW deployment ban.

“Every time we have complaints in Valenzuela City, it’s about abuse from employers. And most of them are domestic helpers. I also noticed that almost 100% of complaints came from the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait,” the senator said in a radio interview.

He also cited reports that OFWs “by the thousands” were seeking refuge in Philippine embassies in Saudi Arabia but could not be repatriated immediately due to their pending cases or their passports being confiscated by their employers.

“There was one report of OFWs living in the embassy by the thousands. Most of them escaped from their employers because they were abused,” Mr. Gatchalian said, adding that it was time for a review of the deployment policy and the Philippines’ agreements with other countries, particularly on the protection of migrant workers.

“This is an important policy because if we do not have a bilateral agreement and the other country has no laws protecting migrant workers, we should not deploy OFWs there,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English.

He also noted that the government should study its training and livelihood programs for the repatriated workers facing unemployment.

“I believe that, with the right training, right program, we can help them,” said Mr. Gatchalian, who heads the Senate committee on economic affairs.

Mr. Gatchalian said he plans to conduct hearing on this matter, together with Senator Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, who chairs the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development. “We will combine forces with Senator Joel of the Senate labor committee. We already discussed this because this is an economic and labor problem,” he said. — Camille A. Aguinaldo