MANILA, Philippines – The chairman of the House Justice committee was accused Monday of applying “double standards’ in appreciating impeachment evidence after the speedy dismissal of what had been dubbed a “hearsay” complaint filed by Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano.
Chafing at the dismissal and the admonition by Justice panel chair Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali that they needed to be very careful about just accepting just any derogatory information against an impeachable official like the President, Alejano wondered aloud how Umali can preach caution. He recalled how Umali behaved at the impeachment trial of then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, when Umali suddenly produced photocopied bank records he claimed were handed him by the mysterious “small lady.”
In a controversial decision, the senators sitting as the impeachment court accepted those documents that eventually pinned down Corona. The then Chief Justice was convicted by a vote of 20-3, becoming the first chief magistrate of the land to suffer that fate.
On Monday, the House of Representatives Justice committee, headed by Representative Umali, voted to formally dismiss the impeachment complaint against President Duterte due to “insufficient substance.”
In junking the complaint, the committee said Alejano did not have personal knowledge on the issues alleged against the President, such as the extrajudicial killings and the bank accounts.
And, if Alejano insisted that his allegations were based on culled verified and authenticated records, such as affidavits, then he should have presented these to the panel when it deliberated on the complaint last week, Umali added.
“He must have personal knowledge or that he must have evidence authenticated and or duly certified true copies of those documents that he would like the committee to appreciate. But, he doesn’t have any, that’s why all that he said were hearsay, and so we cannot even move on,” he said.
Umali was one of the prosecutors during the trial of Corona in 2012. In the course of the trial, he claimed a “small lady” approached him inside the Senate premises and handed him the photocopied bank records.
“I went through a lot also during my time when the ‘small lady’ came out and I was investigated. Tiningnan iyon kung saan binigay sa akin because whoever provides that information can be liable under the Bank Secrecy Law so hindi ganun ka-simple iyon [it’s not that simple],” he said.
Despite suspicions as to their authenticity, the impeachment court accepted the bank documents as part of evidence. Corona eventually admitted to owning the bank accounts.
Umali ‘double standards’ hit
Alejano, meanwhile, complained of the haste with which the Justice committee dismissed the complaint without giving him the chance to present his evidence. He also criticized Umali for applying a double standard when he used the photocopied bank records from the “small lady.”
“Sila mismo, complainant sila noon (Corona impeachment), wala naman silang personal knowledge,” he said.
“Kaya nga sa kanila [So in their case, that’s a], double standard. Nag-walk-in lang ang small lady . . ginamit na nila yung information [A little lady just walked in, and they used the information]. They will use it if it fits their objective,” Alejano added.
