Opposition solons: ‘Go slow’ on impeach move vs. SC justices

Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday advised a Lower House colleague to “go slow" on a plan to file an impeachment case against some of the Supreme Court (SC) justices for supposedly delaying proceedings that can possibly remove Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez from her post. House Deputy Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas should reconsider his plan to file impeachment complaints against several SC justices. “The Constitution is clear on the division of powers of the three branches of government... He [Fariñas] should go slow on bold moves like that," Suarez told GMA News in a phone interview on Wednesday. Fariñas, vice chair of the House committee on justice, which is currently hearing two impeachment complaints against the Ombudsman, threatened to file separate impeachment cases against SC magistrates who supposedly did not even read Gutierrez’s petition before blocking the House’s moves to impeach the Ombudsman. Suarez likewise questioned some lawmakers’ “attitude" of filing cases prompted by “small wrongdoings." “Kapiraso lang na hindi mo nagustuhan, kakasuhan kaagad? [You mean, for every move that you don’t like, you’ll immediately file a case?] If that’s the attitude, we will never move forward," he said. Davao del Sur Rep. Mark Douglas Cagas meanwhile said that Fariñas’ plan is intended to “put pressure" on the high court. “It’s a strategy to put pressure on the SC so that they would act unfavorably on the motion for reconsideration filed by the Ombudsman," he said in a separate text message. Cagas was referring to Gutierrez’s request for the SC to reconsider its earlier decision junking her petition to stop the House’s moves to impeach her. She had insisted that the House justice panel was handling two impeachment complaints against her, when the Constitution allows only such process per year. SC spokesperson Midas Marquez earlier said that Fariñas has the “discretion" to file an impeachment complaint against any official, but reminded him of the “respective mandates" of each branch of government.—JV, GMA News