MANILA, Philippines — (UPDATE 4:26PM) Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez chided Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for linking her impeachment case to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (PIATCO) issue that was decided several years ago.
“Please tell her to argue on the merits and appear before the committee on justice,” Alvarez said in a text message when asked to react to a television interview where Sereno said she hoped the impeachment complaint against her was not prompted by “vengeance or personal agenda.”
In a separate news conference, Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia said the Piatco case had nothing to do with the Speaker’s support for the impeachment complaint.
“I find it rather irrelevant when we speak of the present issue at hand,” Garcia said, adding that the Chief Justice should instead focus on the allegations against her.
When asked if she believed Alvarez was pushing for her impeachment as a reprisal over the case of Piatco, builder of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, Sereno said in the ANC interview, “I testified against the onerous terms of the contract that was signed between the government and PairCargo (later named Piatco), and Speaker Alvarez at the time was part of the committee that approved the terms of reference for the contract.”
The Chief Justice said Alvarez was implicated for awarding the NAIA 3 build-operate-transfer contract to Piatco when he was senior assistance general manager of Manila International Airport Administration (MIAA).
Alvarez and other officials of the MIAA faced a plunder case in 2001 for allegedly gaining from the contract.
“Speaker Alvarez had a lot to do with the result of that bidding, and one of the cases in fact that was filed against him was precisely for the conflict of interest situation that he finds himself in. A company that his wife owned was the subcontractor for the construction (of Naia-3),” Sereno said.
She said the matter was being studied by her lawyers for the impeachment complaint filed against her by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon.
CJ didn’t link Piatco to impeachment – lawyer
Reacting to Alvarez’s remarks blaming Sereno for linking the PIatco case to the impeachment, Atty. Josa Deinla, one of Sereno’s spokespersons, said: “We’d like to remind the Speaker that it was not CJ or anyone from our camp who claimed that he was behind the impeachment proceedings. We do not speculate or ascribe any political agenda to whomever as our focus is on the merits of the case.”
Deinla added: “It is wrong to assume that the CJ doesn’t want to attend the hearings. She does — except that she intends to do so through counsel. The reason for this is her sincere desire to faithfully fulfill the immense duties of her office without distractions. No less than the Constitution as well guarantees her right to counsel.”
Sereno “has nothing to fear and nothing to hide,’ said Deinla. “But contrary to the Speaker’s suggestion, this cannot be demonstrated simply by showing up. A fair and judicious proceeding that curtails no rights is the only way by which the Chief Justice can effectively defend herself.”
Nov. 22 hearing
The House Committee on Justice will conduct a hearing on November 22 to determine if there is probable cause on the complaint, which alleged that the Chief Justice betrayed public trust, culpably violated the Constitution, and committed graft and corruption.
Sereno’s camp had submitted two letters to the justice committee, saying that it should allow legal counsels to represent her in the hearings. Several lawmakers, however, including Deputy Speakers Gwendolyn Garcia and Sharon Garin said the Chief Justice should take the opportunity to air her side during the hearing.
“The best person to deny and state these are falsehoods would be the person herself who is accused,” Garcia said.
