Palace mum on impeach raps vs Supreme Court justices

MANILA, Philippines -  Malacañang is silent for now on the plan of Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas to file an impeachment complaint against 15 justices of the Supreme Court (SC) this week.

“It’s still too early. We have not yet seen the basis of this (impeachment complaint),” said Sec. Ricky Carandang in an interview with state-run radio dzRB.

Fariñas is senior vice chairman of the justice committee in the House of Representatives which has jurisdiction over impeachment complaints. Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. chairs the committee. 

The panel is investigating the impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

Fariñas said he would cite as grounds for impeachment the unnecessary delay caused by the SC in the impeachment proceedings against Gutierrez, the plagiarism case against Justice Mariano del Castillo, the acquittal of the suspects in the Vizconde massacre case, and the repeated reversal of the decision on the cityhood of 16 municipalities.

“According to their own colleagues, some justices did not even read the petition of the Ombudsman (Gutierrez) in September last year when they voted to stop us from proceeding with her impeachment,” Fariñas had said.

President Aquino appears to be biased against the SC because of its adverse rulings on several of his executive orders.

Fourteen of the 15 justices of the Court were appointed by his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Aquino’s only appointee to the SC thus far is Ma. Lourdes Aranal-Sereno, former executive director of the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center.

He was particularly peeved by the SC ruling in October last year that stopped the revocation of the midnight appointment of National Commission on Muslim Filipinos commissioner and secretary Bai Omera Dianalan-Lucman.

Aquino had said the order upholding Dianalan-Lucman’s appointment would derail efforts to streamline the bureaucracy by getting rid of midnight appointees.              

The SC also declared unconstitutional the creation of the Truth Commission, an independent body that would investigate the alleged anomalies in the Arroyo administration.