MANILA, Philippines — Albay Representative Edcel Lagman has appealed to the House Committee on Justice to “extend its liberality” and allow him to pose questions to Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro if she appears in the impeachment hearing against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Lagman asked to be allowed to “propound clarificatory or cross-examination questions” to the magistrate.
“Following the doctrine that every rule has an exception, I am making this urgent request as an exception to the ruling of the Chair and the Committee on Justice that non-members of the committee can attend but not participate in the proceedings,” he said in a letter to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the committee.
The committee has ruled that only members and ex-officio members can quiz resource persons in the impeachment hearing. Lagman is not a member of the justice panel.
He earlier wrote the committee to assert his case about his right to participate in the proceedings, but his appeal was rejected during a voting.
The House is tackling the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon against Sereno.
Gadon requested the panel to invite De Castro as one of the witnesses in the case, saying the latter would be the best person to ask about the chief justice’s alleged falsification of several court documents.
He said De Castro was “very much” willing to testify against the chief justice, adding that he was able to know De Castro’s intent to testify through a “friend who is talking to her on my behalf.” Gadon later identified his friend as journalist Jomar Canlas.
However, De Castro on Wednesday denied that she had provided the journalist documents related to the impeachment case.
“I have never released to Jomar Canlas (of Manila Times) any information, report, or document regarding the work of the Supreme Court,” De Castro said in a statement released via the high court’s Public Information Office.
The House committee will resume the hearings on Monday, November 27.
