TRO not a basis for SC justices’ ouster By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/10/2011

TRO not a basis for SC justices’ ouster

By Benjamin B. Pulta 03/10/2011

Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, vice chairman the House commmittee on justice, may be itching to impeach the eight Supreme Court magistrates on claimed grounds that three high court justices, publicly perceived to favor Malacañang in their dissenting opinions, were not given their copies of the petition of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the House of Representatives committee on justice to stop the impeachment hearings, sometime in September last year, but that the status quo ante (SQA) was quickly issued by the majority of the justices.

This is the ground on which Fariñas is said to be basing his impeachment complaint against the eight justices.
Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal yesterday said that the SC justices cannot be ousted on the basis of a TRO or an SQA issued on a case pending before it.

“Even if the TRO or SQA is issued without some justices having read the petition or issued on the same day the petition is filed, this is not a ground for impeachment since the act does not constitute betrayal of public trust or any of the grounds for impeachment,” Macalintal said.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110310hed4.html