Palace keeps hands off bid to impeach SC justices

Saying it is too early to comment on the matter, Malacañang is keeping its distance from a lawmaker’s reported bid to impeach eight Supreme Court justices. Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said over the weekend that he plans to file an impeachment complaint against eight of the 15 justices of the Supreme Court this week. But Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ramon Carandang said Sunday that the Palace has yet to fully understand the reasons for the impeachment bid. “Masyado pang maaga para magkaroon kami ng position diyan (It is too early to adopt a position on the matter)," Carandang said on government-run dzRB radio. “I know that Congressman Rudy Fariñas has threatened to impeach some of the justices pero di pa namin nakikita ang basehan nito kaya wala muna kaming kumento rito (but we have yet to see the details of his reasons for doing so, so we will not comment for now)," he added. Fariñas had been quoted as saying: “These justices think they are supreme and can commit wrongdoing without being answerable to anyone. No, it is the people who are supreme because it is the people who can remove these justices through their elected representatives [in Congress]." The lawmaker is the senior vice chairman of the House committee on justice, the panel that has jurisdiction over impeachment complaints. Fariñas said he would cite as impeachment grounds the unnecessary delay caused by the high tribunal in the proceedings to remove Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, the plagiarism case against Justice Mariano del Castillo, the acquittal of the suspects in the Vizconde murders, and possibly the flip-flopping decision in the cityhood of 16 towns. He said the justices were slow in resolving the Gutierrez’s petition but were quick in granting her prayer for a restraining order allegedly “without even reading her petition," basing that claim on what was revealed in the separate concurring opinions of SC Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Ma. Lourdes Aranal Sereno. The two justices wrote that both of them got to read Gutierrez’s petition in full only after the high court had already voted to grant the order restraining the House justice committee from conducting impeachment proceedings against the Ombudsman. On March 2, House Deputy Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez advised Fariñas to “go slow" on a plan to file an impeachment case against SC justices for supposedly delaying House proceedings to oust the Ombudsman. Last Tuesday, the committee found sufficient ground to oust Gutierrez. He said several individuals who claim they were victims of alleged wrongdoing or excesses by justices would join him in his complaint. Fariñas named one of them as Lauro Vizconde, who has been denouncing the recent SC decision reversing a lower court conviction of the suspects in the murder of members of his family. – MRT, GMA News