MANILA, Philippines — Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has stood her ground against showing up at the hearing of the House Committee on Justice on Wednesday, November 22.
Instead, Sereno would be represented by 11 lawyers, according to a letter sent to the committee on Tuesday, November 21, signed by her counsels Alexander Poblador, Dino Vicencio Tamayo, and Anzen Dy.
Sereno also furnished the committee a copy of a special power of attorney authorizing her legal team to “act for and inn my name and stead and to exercise my rights and to otherwise protect my interests in all stages of the impeachment proceeding before the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives.”
Her designated attorneys-in-fact are Poblador; Vivencio; Tamayo; Dy; Justin Christopher Mendoza; Carla Pingul; Sandra Mae Magalang; Jayson Aguilar; Oswald Imbat; Enrico Edmundo Castelo II; Charles Richard Avila Jr.; and Patricia Geraldez.
Sereno was invited by the committee to attend the hearing on Wednesday at the House wherein the panel would determine the existence of probable cause on the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon against the chief justice.
Gadon alleged that Sereno had committed culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
In their Nov. 21 letter to the committee, Sereno’s lawyers said, “In light of the foregoing and with all due respect, the Chief Justice has chosen to attend the 22 November 2017 hearing through her legal counsel.”
“The Chief Justice also authorized her legal counsel to confront witnesses against her and to cross-examine them. . . . Since the honorable committee appears to be interested in the truth behind the charges leveled against the Chief Justice, then it should welcome the cross-examination of complainant’s witnesses by the Chief Justice’s lawyers,” the letter added.
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairperson of the justice committee, said Sereno should personally appear at the hearing.
“How can we cross-examine the lawyers who do not have personal knowledge of the matters that the members of the committee would ask of them. That can only be drawn from the respondent herself,” he said.
“In the impeachment proceedings, what we need are facts and we cannot draw that from the lawyers,” he said, adding that lawyers could also use the lawyer-client privilege to prevent all information from getting divulged.