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Lawmaker preparing impeach raps vs SC justices


A lawmaker said Monday he is gathering evidence for possible impeachment complaints against several Supreme Court justices. Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said he has already requested the clerk of the high court to provide him with the exact time and date when the magistrates received a petition filed by Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in September last year. "I want to do it [filing of the complaint] on Thursday but until now, the SC clerk of court has not given me the certification I requested," Fariñas said in a text message to GMA News Online on Monday. But Fariñas said it is still "too early to tell" which magistrates will be included in the complaints, since he is still collating the charges. SC spokesperson Midas Marquez meanwhile, 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. SC ruling on Gutierrez petition Fariñas threatened to file the impeachment charges last week after he found out, through a concurring opinion by Justice Antonio Carpio, that some SC justices decided on Gutierrez’s petition without even reading the documents. Last September, Gutierrez filed before the SC a motion to stop the House committee on justice’s impeachment proceedings against her, describing it as unconstitutional. [See: Ombudsman asks SC to block impeachment proceedings] A day after the Ombudsman filed her motion, the high court decided to issue a status quo ante order on the House panel, only to declare six months later that the committee can go on with the impeachment proceedings. Fariñas, vice-chairperson of the House justice panel, said he plans to file the impeachment complaints against the SC justices for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the 1987 Constitution. "I am collating all the possible offenses that may have been committed by them so as not to inoculate them for the one-year ban on impeachment proceedings," he said. Section 3(5), Article XI of the Constitution provides that "No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year." On Sunday, Malacañang officials refused to comment on Farinas’ move that can possibly pit two branches against each other, saying it is too early to comment on the matter. Opposition lawmakers, for their part, advised their colleague from the majority last year to "go slow" on his plan to file impeachment complaints against the SC justices, citing the division of powers against the legislature and judiciary. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News

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