'SUFFICIENT SUBSTANCE' VS DEL CASTILLO
MANILA,
DECEMBER 9,
2011 (STANDARD) by Joyce Pangco Pañares, Rey E. Requejo
and Maricel Cruz - PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday refused to say if
he would support an impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Renato Corona
—even as his allies in the House moved against an associate justice that the
opposition saw as a thinly veiled warning to the Supreme Court.
"I do not tell you my plans or anybody else's," the President said in
response to a direct question on whether he would back his allies in Congress in
impeaching Corona.
"At this point in time, it is important that these questions should be
propounded and that is the only thing I did … I just started with my questions.
And these questions have been piling up and have remained unanswered.
"When they ruled against the Truth Commission, we did not fight. When they
made decisions that impacted on the Executive's ability to govern, we did not
fight. But the list is getting longer.
"There are so many questionable [decisions]. Should we keep on putting up
with these? I don't think that is what is provided in our Constitution.
"That is why we have checks and balances in our Constitution—so that if we
deem something to be wrong, we can oppose it."
Mr. Aquino did not reply to the criticism from constitutional expert and
former Ateneo law dean Joaquin Bernas S.J., who likened him to the Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro on Tuesday for his continued tirades against the Supreme
Court.
But Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Bernas' remarks were "unfair."
She said the President's open attack on Corona during a summit he co-hosted
was "acceptable" because it was in the interest of "a majority of the people."
In the House, the committee on justice led by Iloilo Rep. Neil Tupas voted
40-7 to pursue impeachment proceedings against Associate Justice Mariano del
Castillo for alleged betrayal of the public trust over the charges of plagiarism
against him that the high court dismissed last year.
Opposition lawmakers said the timing of the vote was suspect, and was clearly
aimed at giving President Aquino political support for his recent attacks on the
Supreme Court and Corona.
Minority Leader Edcel Lagman and House Deputy Leader Danilo Suarez said there
could be no betrayal of public trust in Del Castillo's case because plagiarism
was not a crime.
Supreme Court spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez said Del
Castillo would answer the impeachment complaint filed against him, but it was
unfortunate that the House committee on justice ignored the Court's earlier
decision to dismiss the same allegation of plagiarism filed by lawyer Harry
Roque.
Marquez said the Court ruled on the case in October 2010 and found it without
merit.
"It may be a political decision, so we leave that to the members of the House
of Representatives," Marquez said.
Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin, however, denounced the impeachment, saying
such efforts to undermine the independence of the Judiciary would diminish the
country's constitutional democracy.
In a speech at the University of the East, Bersamin said the attacks on the
Supreme Court outside the mechanisms provided by law ... "will bring disaster to
the system of separation of powers and undo an age-old constitutional
structure."
Bersamin said he and his colleagues resented unfounded insinuations that
tended to diminish the respect for the institution of the courts and for the
rule of law.
"Justices and judges may not defend themselves in public," he said.
"Nor may they engage in argument and debate in public on issues passed upon
or still to be passed upon by the courts. That is the chief reason why the
Supreme Court has appointed a spokesperson who is not a judicial officer." With Macon Ramos-Araneta
FROM PHILSTAR
Impeach rap vs Supreme Court justice Del Castillo
'sufficient in substance' By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated
December 08, 2011 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on justice voted
overwhelmingly yesterday to pursue an impeachment complaint against Supreme
Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo (photo).
Voting 40-7, the committee, dominated by administration allies, found the
complaint of intellectual dishonesty and plagiarism against Del Castillo
sufficient in substance.
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., committee chairman, immediately ordered his
committee's secretary to furnish the accused a copy of the complaint and to ask
him to file an answer within 10 calendar days.
He said his panel would meet again next month to evaluate the respondent's
answer and to take another vote on "whether there is sufficient ground to
further pursue the impeachment process."
"If we find sufficient ground, then we decide whether there is probable cause
to impeach the respondent. After that, we submit our report to the plenary," he
said.
The decision to pursue Del Castillo's impeachment came after the President's
heightened verbal assault on the Supreme Court and on Chief Justice Renato
Corona in particular.
But Tupas said it was just "coincidence" that his committee took the vote
amid the animosity between Malacañang and the high court.
"We had to decide on what to do with this complaint before we adjourn next
week (for the Christmas season). This case has been pending since December last
year," he said.
By finding the complaint to be sufficient in substance, he said his committee
treated the charges of intellectual dishonesty and plagiarism as amounting to
betrayal of public trust, which is an impeachable offense.
Five "comfort women" during the Japanese occupation and 15 House members
filed the case against Del Castillo.
It stemmed from the respondent's authorship of a decision dismissing the
comfort women's petition asking the Supreme Court to compel the government to
seek compensation for them and a public apology from Japan for the abuses
Japanese soldiers allegedly committed against them.
In writing the decision, Del Castillo allegedly lifted quotations from
international law journals and articles authored by international experts
without proper attribution.
Last October, after an investigation, the Supreme Court cleared Del Castillo
of misconduct in relation to the charge of plagiarism.
Voting in the Tupas committee was strictly along party lines. The 40 members
of the 55-man Tupas panel who voted to pursue the impeachment process against
Del Castillo belong to the ruling Liberal Party, Nationalist People's Coalition
(NPC), National Unity Party, and party-list groups affiliated with the House
majority.
Save for one, those who cast negative votes are colleagues of beleaguered
former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the opposition
bloc.
They are Minority Leader Edcel Lagman and Representatives Danilo Suarez of
Quezon, Amelita Villarosa of Mindoro Occidental, Mitos Magsaysay of Zambales,
Arthur Yap of Bohol, and Rodolfo Albano of Isabela.
Rep. Emmeline Aglipay of the party-list group Democratic Independent Workers
Association cast the lone breakaway vote from the majority.
In May, when the Tupas committee voted 11-10 to narrowly get the case against
Del Castillo past the first phase of the impeachment proceeding, which involved
determination of sufficiency in form, NPC members accounted for most of the
negative votes.
This time, the NPC bloc, led by Representatives Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela
City and Mark Llandro Mendoza of Batangas, voted with their colleagues in the
majority. Lagman promptly criticized what he described as the "partisan" vote
taken by the committee on justice.
"It is the best timing for a bad precedent. It gives political support to the
relentless assault of President Aquino against the Supreme Court, particularly
Chief Justice Renato Corona and majority of the justices. It portends of more
partisan tirades and adverse actions against the high court," he said.
Explaining her vote, Aglipay said she did not believe that plagiarism, if
indeed Del Castillo committed it, "was deliberate and intentional to be
considered as betrayal of public trust."
"It should have been repeatedly committed to be deliberate and intentional.
But it is alleged to have been committed just once in this case," she said.
Before Tupas called for a vote, Lagman complained that Del Castillo's
accusers cited in their complaint only the supposedly plagiarized portions of
the decision written by the respondent.
"They failed to furnish us the copy of the entire decision and the subsequent
decision of the Supreme Court clearing Justice Del Castillo. These are material
in enabling us to better appreciate the complaint and make an informed
decision," he said.
He said the tribunal, in clearing its member, had found that "on the whole,
his (Del Castillo's) work was original" and that he had done "an honest work."
He described the call for a vote as "premature."
But Tupas said the complaint has long been pending with the committee, which
he added is already running out of time.
"Today is our 50th day. Under the rules, we have 60 session days to consider
a complaint and submit a report to the plenary session. We have only 10 session
days left," he said.
Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, a deputy majority leader, said a decision on the
issue of sufficiency of substance cannot be described as premature since the
complaint has been pending for nearly a year.
"We cannot be accused of railroading here," he said.
Mindoro Oriental Rep. Rey Umali said any interested member of the committee
could readily access the Supreme Court's website if he wanted to read the entire
Del Castillo decision on the comfort women's case.
Besides, he said the respondent could cite his decision and the SC resolution
clearing him of misconduct as part of his defense.
Umali and Quimbo were among the congressmen-complainants in the case against
Del Castillo.
Lagman said he doubted the committee could complete its task within the
remaining 10 session days for it to do so.
At one point during the debates, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas moved for
the approval of a resolution expressing the committee's sense that the high
tribunal should not investigate any of its own members as this might infringe
upon the impeachment powers of Congress. But colleagues prevailed upon him to
withdraw his motion since they were convened to vote on the substance of the Del
Castillo impeachment complaint.
Impeachment in the works
Opposition lawmakers said the apparent rush to impeach Del Castillo may be an
indication that a move to impeach the chief justice himself is in the works.
"Not only did they (majority congressmen) rush it (Del Castillo case), they
voted on it even if the complaint is weak," Suarez said. "What happened already
sends a chilling message to the Supreme Court justices that we can work for your
impeachment even if there is no case." He said there is no legal basis for any
impeachment complaint against Corona.
Lagman said the committee's action "portends of more adverse actions against
the Supreme Court and its members in the months to come."
He said the vote of the justice committee was meant "to give political
support to the relentless assault of the President against the Supreme Court,
particularly the Chief Justice."
"I believe the campaign to demonize and impeach Chief Justice Corona is
already in the works inside Malacañang," Magsaysay said for her part.
But Quimbo said SC justices should not be "onion-skinned" and maintained that
the high court should not be held "so sacred that it is free from criticism."
He said Aquino's actions have always been "validated" by his high survey
ratings.
"Let's not forget that in terms of accountability, the President is the only
national official to have garnered such a large mandate. No member of the
Supreme Court got elected. They are there as appointees. In fact, the only
accountability that the members of the SC have in the Constitution is through
Congress, through an impeachment. But as you may know, that is a legal process,"
he said.
Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said impeachment is the only way to make SC
justices accountable.
"We (congressmen) are subject to a lot of accountability measures. But the
Supreme Court – it is as if we treat them as 'holier than thou'," Baguilat said.
President Aquino, meanwhile, said he would rather not give an opinion on
calls for the impeachment of Corona and other Arroyo appointees in the SC.
"I do not tell you (media) my plans, or anybody else. But I think, at this
point in time, it is important that these questions should be propounded and
that's the only thing I did," he said. – With Paolo Romero,
Delon Porcalla
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
PHILIPPINE
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