AN anti-crime group has sought the high tribunal’s Clerk of Court to strengthen its impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno.

In a two-page letter addressed to Atty. Felipa Anama, the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption requested certified true copies of the documents that were cited in their impeachment complaint filed before the House of Representatives.

The following documents are:

• En Banc resolution approving Financial Rehabilitation Rules of Procedure (2013), and subsequent resolution recalling its prior ruling;

• Appointment of Atty. Solomon Lumba as Chief Justice Staff Head, as signed by Ms. Sereno;

• Senior Associate Justice Jose Antonio T. Carpio’s letter on the withdrawal of his signature in the appointment of Mr. Lumba

• Memorandum to the Court en banc dated December 2012 of Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro seeking the recall of Ms. Sereno’s administrative order creating the new Judiciary Decentralized Office (JDO) and re-opening the Regional Court Administration;

• En Banc Resolution creating the Needs Assessment Committee to determine the need to decentralize the functions of SC in support of its power of administrative supervision over lower courts;

• Memorandum to the Court En Banc, signed by Ms. Leonardo-De Castro flagging administrative orders of Ms. Sereno flagging several administrative orders including the appointment of Atty. Brenda Jay Mendoza as chief of Philippine Mediation Center of the Philippine Judicial Academy, granting foreign travels and allowance to staff of the Office of the Chief Justice, and “long delay” of appointment of posts.

The VACC was the first to submit its impeachment complaint against Ms. Sereno last Wednesday at the House of Representatives. The complaint, however, has yet to be endorsed by a lawmaker to be formally lodge in the House Committee on Justice for hearing.

Majority Leader Rodolfo V. Farinas earlier cautioned that impeachment complaints should have solid documentary evidence to gain ground at the House committee on justice. The lawmaker noted that newspaper articles were attached to complaints and advised the complainants to obtain certified true copies of the documents cited in the news reports.

Defeated senatorial candidate and Duterte Youth lawyer Lorenzo G. Gadon, also prepared an impeachment complaint but he has yet to submit it to the House. He first sent copies to several lawmakers awaiting sponsorship.

Malacañang had said that President Rodrigo R. Duterte, with whom Ms. Sereno had been at loggerheads in in June last year, will take his hands off the case.

The SC has yet to issue a statement on the impeachment complaints. — Kristine Joy V. Patag

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