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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Former House justice panel chairman to head lawyers in bid to impeach Leonen

Former House justice panel chairman to head lawyers in bid to impeach Leonen

Published May 27, 2021 07:02 am

The former chairman of the House Committee on Justice that handled the 2007 impeachment case against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will head the legal team representing the complainant in the impeachment bid against Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

Lawyer Larry Gadon, who represented complainant Edwin Cordevilla when he filed the case last year, disclosed that former Quezon City 3rd District Rep. Mat Defensor will take over as the head of a team of lawyers, representing Cordevilla.

Defensor is expected to appear Thursday, May 27 at the initial hearing of the Committee on Justice on the case.

The justice panel chaired by Leyte Rep.Vicente Veloso will deliberate on the determination of the sufficiency in form of the complaint before proceeding to resolve sufficiency in substance which will be scheduled in succeeding hearings.

“With former Congressman and former Chairman of.the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives , Cong Mat Defensor as our lead counsel in the impeachment complaint especially in the hearing for the determination of form and substance , I am confident that the impeachment complaint will proceed smoothly and that a verdict by the committee will be geared towards a favorable outcome,” Gadon said in a statement.

He added: “I am certain that Former Cong Mat Defensor would be able to demonstrate to the committee that the complaint has conformed to the formal requisites for an impeachment to proceed.”

Gadon stressed that Defensor gives the prosecution team the confidence of succeeding to impeach Leonen, saying that the former solon’s “experience and knowledge on impeachment proceedings will shine with authoritative persuasion.”

Now semi-retired from politics, Defensor has devoted much of his time in running his legal firm and in participating in Church activities. He was recently voted to head the Ang Bagong Bayani group of the Knights of Columbus as its Faithful Navigator.

It may be recalled that Defensor headed the House justice committee that junked the second impeachment complaint filed against Arroyo in 2007. The then president was cleared of accusations of graft and corruption filed by the the Left-leaning group Bayan and other complainants.

In 2009, Defensor also presided over the justice panel when it impeached then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

The Gutierrez complaint was filed by a group led by former Senator Jovito Salonga who charged the anti-graft prosecutor of “betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for failing to act on “clear graft and corruption cases”.

Leonen is facing impeachment for the alleged delay in the resolution of cases assigned to him as SC justice and as chairman of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.

He was also accused of failing to file his statement of assets, liabilities and network during his stint as professor of the University of the Philippines.

The non-filing of SALN covering certain years is the same ground cited by Gadon when he sought the impeachment of former Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

The Lower House failed to impeach Sereno but her SC colleagues, acting on a quo warranto petition, voted 8-6 to declare her appointment as chief justice null and void.

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