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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Friday, September 1, 2017
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MANILA – Twenty-five members of the House of Representatives endorsed an impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, who filed one of two such complaints, said his will now be up for hearing after getting more than the required one endorsement.
“As of Wednesday night, 25 pa lang ang mga congressman na nag-endorse. We are expecting more of them to sign,” Gadon told Panay News.
Among those who endorsed the complaint were Anthony Bravo of COOP NATCOO party-list, Francisco Matugas II of Surigao del Norte, Xavier Jesus Romualdo of Camigiun, Gil Acosta and Frederick Abueg of Palawan, Ann Hofer of Zamboanga Sibugay, Winnie Castelo of Quezon City, Ferdinand Hernandez of South Cotabato, Jericho Nograles of PBA, John “Yul Servo” Nieto of Manila;
Robert “Ace” Barbers of Surigao del Norte, Roger Mercado of Southern Leyte, Lorna Bautista Bandigan of Davao Occidental, Jennifer Barzaga of Cavite, Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu, Edgar Sarmiento of Samar, Rodito Albano of Isabela;
Arnel Ty of LPGMA, Aurelio Gonzales of Pampanga, Federico Sandoval of Malabon, Joel Mayo Almario of Davao Oriental, Romeo Acop of Antipolo, Vincent Crisologo of Quezon City, Mylene Garcia-Albano of Davao City, and Pedro Acharon Jr. of South Cotabato.
Sereno failed to disclose in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth the $745,000 (P37 million) “exorbitant lawyer’s fees” she received from the government, Gadon said in his 54-page complaint.
Her falsification of a Supreme Court resolution and a restraining order on two pending cases is also a “culpable violation of the Constitution,” claimed Gadon.
His other accusations include:
* Sereno prevented Court of Appeals justices from calling on President Rodrigo Duterte, favoritism and usurpation of Supreme Court mandate.
* Sereno obstructed justice by preventing a lower court judge from issuing a warrant of arrest against Sen. Leila de Lima.
* Sereno committed “extravagant spending” for buying a Toyota Land Cruiser worth P5.1 million and shelling out “P3 million to P4 million” more for bulletproofing it, and traveling and taking business-class flights, and spending P150,000 a night in a presidential suite in Boracay after attending a meeting.
The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption led by Chairman Dante Jimenez also filed an impeachment complaint against Sereno.
They accused the chief justice of, among others, violating the Constitution for issuing an administrative order creating a new Judiciary Decentralization Office and reopening a Regional Court Administration Office in Western Visayas without en banc authority./PN
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