THE lawyer seeking the removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said Monday he would ask congressmen to issue a subpoena to compel her to appear in the impeachment hearing.
‘‘If she doesn’t appear, I will also request that she be arrested,” Lorenzo Gadon told a forum in Quezon City.
Jose Deinla, one of Sereno’s spokesmen, described the threat as “nothing but another one of Gadon’s psywar tactics.”
Winnie Salumbides, another Sereno spokesman, said Gadon’s camp was employing a “well-funded propaganda war” to condition the mind of the public that Sereno was guilty of the impeachment charges despite the lack of evidence.
“Powerful forces with vested interest are resorting to a well-funded propaganda war,” Sereno’s camp said in a statement.
“Despite their efforts, people have not been easily duped by Lorenzo Gadon’s allegations. In the multitude of stories, gossip and intrigues heaped against the Chief Justice, there is still no shred of real evidence to support the impeachment complaint.”
Gadon said five more Supreme Court justices were set to appear in the House justice committee hearing, including Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Samuel Martires, Mariano del Castillo, Diosdado Peralta and Andres Reyes Jr.
Carpio earlier wrote the committee asking about specific issues that would be raised should he attend the impeachment hearing.
Three sitting associate justices”•Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam”•and retired associate justice Arturo Brion earlier testified against Sereno at the House.
“I am very happy with this development,” Gadon said citing the nine justices appearing in the impeachment hearing.
“They can now hold their en banc session there,” he added in jest.
Sereno has refused to attend the hearings, sending her lawyers instead to cross-examine the witnesses against her.
But the committee said she should do the cross examination herself, not her counsels.
“What’s her reason for not attending? Is she afraid that her lack of knowledge in procedures and litigation as a lawyer will show? She just needs to face me,” Gadon said. Rey E. Requejo