Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Noel Tijam is urging SC Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to explain why she took a long time acting on the request to transfer the cases against Maute terrorists and sympathizers from Mindanao courts to Metro Manila.
The statement was made by Tijam when he testified in the House impeachment hearing being conducted by the Committee on Justice today.
"I encourage her to testify so that she can explain why she dilly-dallied," Tijam said.
Tijam recalled that the request for the transfer of court was made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in May 2017 but it was only in October 8, 2017 or after 5 months when Sereno finally referred the appeal to the SC en banc.
Tijam also noted that aside from the DOJ, SC Court Administrator Midas Marquez also asked the high tribunal to move the cases against Maute terrorists from Cagayan de Oro (CDO) to Taguig City.
Marquez had cited the safety risk and danger the hearings posed to the judges and prosecutors in Mindanao.
The Court Administrator had also cited that the CDO court was burned down and judges were holding hearings only in makeshift areas at that time.
Tijam said Sereno apparently did not trust the assessment of Marquez on the conditions in CDO.
He added Marquez had also submitted to the SC letters from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and business organizations in CDO stating the same concerns.
Tijam told the lawmakers that he did not appear in the hearing as a witness of complainant Attorney Lorenzo Gadon.
He said he did not know Gadon and contrary to the lawyer's assumption, Tijam said the Marawi case did not go to his sala following a raffle.
Tijam clarified he just expressed a legal opinion on the matter and that is why Gadon must have thought the SC en banc had assigned the Marawi issue to him.