By Rey G. Panaligan
A day after she went on an indefinite leave, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno said the impeachment complaints against her should be elevated immediately to the Senate for trial or be dismissed outright for lack of evidence.
“I ask only one thing from the political leaders, only one thing, give me my day at the Senate or admit that there is no probable cause,” Sereno said in her speech yesterday before judges, lawyers, and law students in a forum at the University of Baguio in Baguio City.
“If they were so sure of their evidence that I have committed a harvest of sins against the people, why not bring it to the Senate,” Sereno challenged the members of the House Committee on Justice that is investigating the complaints.
“Give me my day at the Senate,” she stressed, “instead of having this additional terribly injurious spectacle where courts and Judicial and Bar Council officials are being threatened with administrative and criminal cases.”
Impeachment complainant Atty. Lorenzo Gadon had earlier threatened to file cases against several Supreme Court and JBC officials as accessories to the alleged offenses committed by Sereno.
In her speech, Sereno urged everyone to respect the impeachment process by allowing it to take its lawful course under the Constitution.
Sereno has gone on an indefinite leave, which, she said, would allow her to prepare for the proceedings on the impeachment complaints filed against her. But her spokespersons had said that while on leave, Sereno would go around the country to tell her story to the people.
She said there is no need for her to resign her post if those who seek her impeachment are sure that she has committed “a harvest of sins.”