ni Lolet Abania | May 27, 2021
Ibinasura ng House Committee on Justice ngayong Huwebes ang impeachment complaint na inihain laban kay Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
Sa naganap na pagdinig, pinagtalunan ng mga mambabatas na ang complaint na inihain ni Edwin Cordevilla, secretary-general ng Filipino League of Advocates For Good Government noong December 7, 2020 ay ‘base sa hearsay.’
May botong 44 ng mga mambabatas na nag-yes para i-dismiss ang impeachment complaint habang 2 ay inhibited.
“Being hearsay and not based on authentic record, we cannot take this as a ground even on the question of verification on the matter of the court,” ani Representative Vicente “Ching” Veloso.
“The verification failed to satisfy the requirement that the allegations of the complainant must be based on his personal knowledge or must be based on authentic records,” dagdag ni Veloso.
Ang impeachment complaint laban kay Leonen ay inihain noong Dec. 7, hinggil sa pagkabigo umano nito na umaksiyon agad sa mga kasong dinidinig sa Supreme Court at i-file ang kanyang statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
Ito rin ang naging kaso sa napatalsik na si yumaong Renato Corona, gayundin kay Maria Lourdes Sereno bilang chief justice – sa dahilang impeachment at quo warranto.
“It is not based on authentic record as required by our rules... All the annexes are Xerox copies and mainly coming from newspaper reports and online reports... A perusal of the complaint itself and the annexes shows that not one matter, not one annex is based on his personal knowledge,” ani Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez sa ginanap na 2-oras na proceeding.
"Therefore the complaint is undeniably purely hearsay and the rules of evidence would say that hearsay would not stand in any proceeding," dagdag niya.
Batay sa Impeachment Rule 3, Sec. 4, ang inihaing complaint ay ibabalik sa Secretary General na may kaakibat na written explanation, habang ang Secretary General naman ay ibabalik ito sa complainant o complainants kasama ang written explanation ng committee sa loob ng 3 session days.
Samantala, lumabas ngayong araw sa social media ang isang larawan ni Leonen ng may delivery ng 8,000 kilos ng mga kamote na may #labguru #SamaSamaTulongTulong…, kung saan nakasakay siya sa motor at walang face mask habang nasa likod niya ang trak ng saku-sakong kamote.