Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Progressive umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the impeachment complaint lodged against Associate Justice Marvic Leonen is “obviously a Marcos move” as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal continues to deliberate on the electoral protest filed by defeated vice president candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“This is calculated to force Justice Leonen to resign or simply act favorably on the Marcos electoral protest. There is just no other way to view it,” said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. in a Facebook post.
The impeachment complaint alleging that the associate justice has violated the Constitution and betrayed public trust comes just after the late dictator’s son and namesake Marcos has failed to have Leonen inhibit from the PET. The complaint, too, was endorsed by Marcos’s cousin, Ilocos Norte Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba.
In October, the Supreme Court stood by its decision to deny the request of the Office of the Solicitor General to gain access to Leonen’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) as the government’s state lawyers reportedly hope to initiate a quo warranto petition, much like the impeachment of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Reyes also noted that the impeachment complaint also coincided just before the Supreme Court will hold its oral arguments on the controversial terror law. He asked, “How can the SC properly conduct oral arguments when an impeachment complaint hangs over the head of one of its justices?”
Meanwhile, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) President Edre Olalia said that with the “checkered record of the goader it is suspect and comes not from the purest of intentions.”
“At any rate, we need decent dissents, nay erudite independence in our judiciary. That is what these nuisance complaints want to impeach.”
Leonen dissented most of the decisions issued by the majority of the SC in favor of the Duterte administration. Eleven of the 14 SC justices were appointed by Duterte.
