The House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice on Tuesday unanimously approved the committee report dismissing the consolidated impeachment complaints against Supreme Court Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and six other magistrates for being insufficient in substance.
The committee, chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Salvador Leachon, dumped the impeachment complaint filed by opposition lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, with all 22 lawmakers present in the hearing.
The hearing was attended by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and approved the committee report.
The impeachment complaints alleged that De Castro, Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr. and Alexander Gesmundo committed culpable violation of the Constitution for removing former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno through the quo warranto petition.
De Castro, Peralta, Bersamin, Jardeleza and Tijam were also accused of betrayal of public trust for refusing to inhibit from voting on the quo warranto petition after testifying against Sereno in the congressional impeachment complaint hearings.
Leachon, in his opening statement, expressed belief his committee was able to conduct extensive hearings on the complaint filed against the seven SC justices.
“The complainants and the members of this Committee were given time to explain their respective positions as well as time for rebuttal and sur-rebuttal. Two requisites served as the standard for determining sufficiency in substance: Whether the recital of facts constitute an impeachable offense and whether these are determinative of the jurisdiction of the Committee over the case,” Leachon said.
“After all the members were given the opportunity to state their positions, there was a motion to declare all the impeachment complaints sufficient in substance. With a vote of one in favor and 22 against, the Committee declared the impeachment complaints as insufficient in substance and, thus dismissed,” Leachon added.
Lagman, for his part, said he would question the decision of the committee to junk the complaint when it reaches the plenary.
Lagman questioned the number of voting for the panel junking the impeachment complaint filed against the seven SC justices.
He said the House justice panel should be able to muster at least 35 votes, or more than half of its total membership, to decide on the committee report dismissing the impeachment complaint against the SC justices as the panel composed of 68 regular and ex-officio members.
“The dismissal of the complaint was not approved by absolute majority—Absolute majority of all members of the committee members which both regular members and the ex-officio members are included. The rules are very clear on this matter,” Lagman told a news conference.
Lagman said his group would write a letter to the committee questioning its decision.
“There is no committee report that will be submitted to the plenary for action. Because it does not approve by the absolute majority. It is void ab initio,” Lagman said.
Last Sept. 11, the House justice committee ruled that the recital of facts did not constitute the offense charged and therefore not determinative of the jurisdiction of the committee. Hence, the panel ruled that the impeachment complaints were insufficient in substance.
During the Tuesday hearing, Leachon reported that Lagman raised a motion for reconsideration following the Sept. 11 vote.
However, the motion is not sanctioned by the rules as Lagman was only a complainant and not a member of the Committee.
Lagman was instead asked to file a manifestation to elucidate his points against the ruling of insufficiency of substance.
“Unfortunately, for the information of everyone, Congressman Lagman did not file any manifestation or any pleading to that effect,” Leachon said.