Move to impeach Puno condemned

Cebu judges, lawyers, and civic groups yesterday condemned the move to oust Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, saying the move is tied to a “game plan for Charter Change and allow Mrs. Arroyo to become prime minister.”

In their statement, the judges said Puno is one who has stood firmly for judicial independence.

“We see the chief justice as the one who has stood firmly for judicial independence and lived by his philosophy, ‘Espouse no ideology but constitutionalism; uphold not theology but the rule of law,’ thus he is an obstacle to any political leader who wants to destroy our democracy in order to stay forever in power and place our country under the rule of men and not law,” the statement reads.

The judges further said that “any similar move today and in the future is neither impossible nor even very remote hence, must be stopped as early as possible.”

Lawyers and the cause-oriented group Karapatan and the Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center, Inc. also issued a separate statement, saying they will bar any attempt to out Puno as chief justice.

“This planned impeachment move manifests disrespect for a co-equal branch of the government, the Supreme Court,” their statement reads.  

Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez had confirmed that an impeachment case against Puno is brewing.

“We've been hearing of the filing of impeachment case for the past several weeks from our friends and different sources,” Marquez told ABS-CBN News Sunday.

Marquez said a case pending before the Supreme Court may be the reason that would be raised in the reported Puno ouster moves. - Jasmin R. Uy/JMO   (THE FREEMAN)