MANILA, MARCH 6, 2011 (STAR) By Jess Diaz – Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas is set to file an impeachment complaint against all 15 justices of the Supreme Court (SC) next week.
"I am now drafting the complaint and I will be filing it (with the House of Representatives) this coming week," he told The STAR yesterday.
"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," he said.
Fariñas is senior vice chairman of the House committee on justice, the panel that has jurisdiction over impeachment complaints. Last Tuesday, the committee voted to find sufficient ground to oust Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
He said several individuals who claim they were victims of alleged wrongdoing or excesses by justices would join him in his complaint.
He 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.
Fariñas said he would cite as impeachment grounds the unnecessary delay caused by the high tribunal in the proceedings to remove 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.
"According to their own colleagues, some justices did not even read the petition of the Ombudsman in September last year when they voted to stop us from proceeding with her impeachment," he said.
He was referring to Gutierrez's petition challenging the impeachment process started by the justice committee. The SC ruled on the petition only last Feb. 15, nearly six months after it was filed. The tribunal dismissed it.
Fariñas said justices know that the House has a 60-session-day constitutional deadline to meet in disposing of impeachment complaints.
He said the justices were quick in granting Gutierrez's prayer for a restraining order "without even reading her petition," but were slow in resolving the case.
Last Tuesday, the justice committee made a count of the days left for it to vote on Gutierrez's ouster.
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., committee chairman, told his colleagues that they have only until next week to make a report to the entire House.
The committee conducted marathon hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday. It scheduled the vote on the beleaguered Ombudsman's fate for next Tuesday.
Fariñas earlier said Gutierrez's impeachment was almost a certainty.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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