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Friday, March 29, 2024

House drops impeach raps against Leonen

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The House of Representatives resolved Wednesday to dismiss the impeachment complaint filed against Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

The chamber adopted House Resolution 2068 by a 165-1-1vote.

In May, the House committee on justice, chaired by Rep. Vicente Veloso III of Leyte dismissed the Leonen impeachment complaint — which it said was based on hearsay. 

One Edwin Cordevilla, secretary-general of the Filipino League of Advocates For Good Government, filed the complaint against Leonen.

Forty-four congressmen voted for the dismissal of the complaint while two inhibited themselves.

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“Being hearsay and not based on an authentic record, we cannot take this as a ground even on the question of verification on the matter of the court,” Veloso said earlier when his committee ruled to dismiss the complaint.

“The verification failed to satisfy the requirement that the allegations of the complainant must be based on his personal knowledge or must be based on authentic records,” he added.

Leonen then welcomed the unanimous vote of the House justice committee to dismiss the impeachment complaint against him on ground that it is insufficient in form and substance.

Leonen described the House committee on justice’s vote as an affirmation of “constitutional independence of the Judiciary by not allowing others to take advantage of the vulnerability of its members.

“They have created a precedent that warns against the abuse and trivialization of constitutional processes,” Leonen said in a statement.

Cordevilla filed the impeachment complaint at the House in December 2020.

Cordevilla’s complaint was endorsed by Ilocos Norte Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba, a cousin of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose election protest was dismissed by the SC, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, in February.

Cordevilla in his complaint said Leonen committed a culpable violation of the Constitution.

He accused Leonen of allegedly “arbitrarily, willfully, intentionally, deliberately and malevolently, with evident bad faith, failing to dispose of at least” 37 cases out of more than 81 cases that were raffled off to his court few months after he was appointed to the Supreme Court in November 2012.

The 37 cases were categorized for Leonen’s immediate decision, Cordevilla said in his filing.

Supreme Court records showed that Leonen has the highest number of cases under his docket.

Cordevilla also accused Leonen of not doing his job as head of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, as the magistrate had no decision on “dozens” of electoral protests as of this month.

Leonen was also accused of refusing to file his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for 15 times while serving as professor at the College of Law at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

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