Coconut farmers from Quezon province and the Bicol region criticize the alleged connivance between businessman Danding Cojuangco and presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe on the use of the Coco Levy Fund, during a press conference in Quezon City on Monday.(MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – Impeachment complaints were filed on Wednesday against the nine Supreme Court (SC) justices who declared that Senator Grace Poe is qualified to run for president.
In his complaint filed before the House of Representatives, a certain Teofilo Parilla accused the justices of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.
The justices who voted in favor of Poe were:
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno
Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco
Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta
Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin
Associate Justice Jose Perez
Associate Justice Jose Mendoza
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen
Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza
Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa
Constitutional officers, including SC magistrates, can be dismissed from their positions through impeachment, which is initiated in Congress.
Under the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings, a complaint filed by any citizen should get the endorsement of one lawmaker before it will be referred to the House of Representatives’ justice committee for hearing.
A vote of one third of all House members is needed to transmit the complaint to the Senate for trial.
Voting 9 to 6, the SC said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when it barred Poe from running on the ground that she made false statements on her nationality and period of residence in the Philippines.
Penned by Perez, the SC ruled that the poll body’s resolutions against Poe’s candidacy were “”diseased with grave abuse of discretion from root to fruits.”
The SC said Poe was a natural-born Filipino citizen and has complied with the 10-year residency requirement, having been an actual resident of the Philippines since she came back from the United States on May 24, 2005.
The decision was handed down on March 8 and was upheld on April 5.(MNS)