Sereno may ask SC help in

impeachment case
By: Marlon Ramos - Reporter / @MRamosINQ
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 07:10 AM November 14, 2017

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno may opt to seek the judicial intervention of the
Supreme Court in challenging the impeachment proceedings against her in the House of
Representatives, according to a member of her legal team.

Legal options

One of Sereno’s spokespersons, Carlo Cruz, said on Monday that the chief justice and
her lawyers would weigh her legal options after the meeting of the House justice
committee on Nov. 20.
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Sereno’s lawyers had failed to convince the committee members to let them cross-
examine the witnesses against her, including her primary accuser, lawyer Lorenzo
Gadon.

“It’s an option, of course,” said Cruz when asked if the chief magistrate would urge her
fellow justices to intervene on the legal issue.

“But I’m not aware of any plan to pursue it at this point. The chief justice and her
lawyers shall make their assessment when the House committee on justice reconvenes,”
he said in a text message.

Asked what would prompt Sereno to run to the country’s highest court, Cruz replied:
“That’s their call. I can’t preempt their determination or strategy on this matter.”

Witnesses coerced
Last week, the beleaguered chief justice claimed that some witnesses were being
coerced to support the accusations against her by Gadon, a staunch supporter of
President Rodrigo Duterte and former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Without elaborating, she told a group of Christian ministries that her rights were being
violated.

“If my rights are not observed, nobody’s rights are safe in this country,” she pointed
out. “If this can happen to a chief justice, it can happen to anyone.”
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“It’s a basic right of every citizen to be defended by who she wants to be defended,”
Sereno stressed.

Sereno, who succeeded the late Chief Justice Renato Corona after the latter was
unseated by the Senate impeachment court in 2012, has been accused of intentionally
hiding her real wealth and of arbitrarily issuing administrative orders without the
concurrence of her colleagues in the high tribunal.

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