House leader expects hearings on Leonen impeach complaint done by October
MANILA, Philippines — House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez expects the proceedings on the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen to wrap up before the filing of candidacies in October.
The complaint will go through commitee hearings to determine whether it is sufficient in form and in substance and on the the House in plenary. If the House votes to impeach Leonen, the complaint will go to the Senate for trial.
"I believe that before October this should be finished because we have to do it. We have to finish this also, this is our constitutional duty," Rodriguez told a media briefing.
The impeachment complaint against Leonen finally moved forward in the House on Tuesday after leadership referred the complaint to the chamber’s justice panel five months after it was filed.
House impeachment rules state that the speaker must include the complaint in the order of business within 10 days from receipt and then refer it to the justice committee within three session days thereafter.
House leaders were able to circumvent this rule by suspending sessions instead of adjourning them, so that a session day can span several days.
Now that the complaint is in the hands of the House justice committee, it will determine whether the complaint is sufficient in form and in substance.
The impeachment bid against Leonen stemmed from his alleged failure to file his statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth when he was still a University of the Philippines professor.
The complaint also accuses Lenone of delays in the disposition of cases and of "almost always [taking] sides against the current administration."
It was filed by Edwin Cordevilla of the group Filipino League of Advocates for Good Government and endorsed by Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba (Ilocos Norte).
Barba is the cousin of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., whose electoral protest the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, unanimously junked. Leonen was the member in charge, eventually the ponente, of the electoral protest although the tribunal is a collegial body.
Leonen, 58, potentially has 12 more years to serve in the high court before reaching the mandatory age of retirement by 2032. — Xave Gregorio with a report from Christian Deiparine
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