Vendetta, not accountability (2)

Cong Corrales

Second of two parts

“The past can’t hurt you anymore unless you let it.” -Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

THE following are the other characters in this charade of justice called the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

If you were watching the same impeachment hearing on television last week, I would not blame you if you feel like it’s a déjà vu. It has been as fast as the congressional inquiry against Sen. Leila de Lima.

So far, we have mentioned two of the characters behind this show. The bruised lawyer and the architect predicated the complaint. Now let’s dig deeper into the cast and characters.

The Pork-Loving Butterfly

The chairman of the House committee on justice is in charge of facilitating the deliberation on the impeachment complaint against Sereno. He is none other than Oriental Mindoro 2nd District Rep. Reynaldo Umali.

What is his beef against Sereno, you ask?

To be fair, he may have a grudge against all the justices who ruled that the Priority Development Assistance Funds unconstitutional or pork barrel.

In September 2013, he was accused of funneling P10 million into a non-government organization allegedly owned by the alleged pork barrel queen herself, Janet Lim-Napoles. In his defense, Umali claimed that the money did not come from his pork barrel but from the then Agriculture Secretary Presco Alcala’s Priority Development Fund.

In December 2013, Umali revealed that he was working on impeachment cases against as many as three Supreme Court justices for flip-flopping on their decisions on the PDAF.

You must remember that Sereno was already the chief justice when the High Tribunal ruled the PDAF unconstitutional.

Let’s not also forget that Umali first belonged to the Liberal Party. That’s right, the “dilawan”. He skittered on to the now ruling party, PDP-Laban, just as the so-called super majority was forming in the Lower House.

The Bypassed Justice

One male Supreme Court Justice has been poised to be the next chief justice. At least, that’s what he has allegedly been saying to the SC staff for the longest time.

According to reports from SC staff, he makes frequent proclamations that he will be the next chief justice and his wife will be the next presiding justice of the Court of Appeals.

So, you can just imagine his dismay when the then President Benigno Simeon Aquino III chose Sereno over him as the next chief justice. This decision, however, was not entirely a vindictive move on the part of PNoy.

Talk has it that he deliberately did not submit an application during the process of discernment for appointing the next chief justice. He felt that he was a shoo-in for the position and his regular visits to Malacañang have given him that assurance (of sorts).

The Meme Girl

A meme, with the picture of another SC justice on it, has been going around on social media platforms with the caption: “I-tag mo ang ka opisina mo na backstabber.”

Insiders at SC claim she went the rounds to seek the support of other justices against Sereno. To quote: “She does her rounds with judges on a mission to spread gossip about the Chief Justice.”

However, Sereno still supported her in her bid as head of the Women’s Judges Association of which she still heads to this day.

In 2011, she was accused of misusing funds. The World Bank told her that the SC will have to return the US$199 thousand (P8.6 million) of the US$21-million loan which was meant for judicial reform but was instead used for projects not covered by the loan agreement.

In July this year, the Justice allegedly circulated a memorandum to the other SC justices containing the very same three objections in lawyer Lorenzo Gadon’s 27-allegation complaint against Sereno.

So, there. That cast of characters complete the Sereno impeachment circus. If your suspects behind this circus aren’t listed in this two-part series, then chances are you are more inquisitive than I am. Please do contact me, electronically or personally, so we can add those to my next My Wit’s End.

However, you have to back it up with facts. We don’t just whip up something out of thin air. Don’t be afraid because you’ll also be covered by the Sotto Law.

Also referred to as the Press Freedom Law (RA 53), the Sotto Law protects the publisher, editor, columnist or duly accredited reporter of any newspaper, magazine or periodical of general circulation. It protects the journalist from being compelled to name his news source.

Yesterday, Digong Dada submitted his proposal for the extension of martial rule in Mindanao. So let’s maximize the rights and civil liberties we have now while we still can.