Sereno won’t attend impeachment hearing at the House of Representatives

November 21, 2017

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno won’t appear at the House of Representatives hearing Wednesday on an impeachment complaint filed against her and will send her lawyers instead.

Sereno sent to the House committee of justice a special power of attorney authorizing her defense lawyers "to exercise and protect her rights and interests in all stages of the impeachment proceedings."

Sereno's authorization to her lawyers include the cross examination of witnesses of complainant lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, which House leaders wanted the chief justice to conduct.

“The Chief Justice need not repeat her position as stated in the motion of her counsel that in the impeachment proceeding before the Hon. Committee, she has the right to appear through counsel and a denial thereof is a violation of due process,” Sereno's lawyers led by lawyer Alex Poblador said, in a two-page letter Tuesday.

“Since the Hon. Committee appears to be interested in the truth behind the charges leveled against the Chief Justice, then it should welcome the cross-examination of complainant’s witnesses by the Chief Justice’s lawyers,” they stressed.

Sereno said she decided to send her lawyers to act on her behalf because personally attending the impeachment hearings could jeopardize her duties as chief justice. DMS