Noy allies seek TRO lifting on impeach Merci bid By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/28/2010

Noy allies seek TRO lifting on impeach Merci bid

By Benjamin B. Pulta 09/28/2010

Allies of President Aquino, key figures in the impeachment complaints against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez yesterday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to set aside the status quo ante order it had earlier issued stopping the House of Representatives’ committee on justice from hearing the impeachment proceedings before the lower chamber.

Gutierrez earlier said the committee violated her right to due process when the House justice panel issued its Sept. 1 and Sept. 7 resolution with “indecent and precipitate haste” and violated the provisions of the 1987 Constitution, limiting impeachment proceeding against the same official to once within a period of one year.

She noted that the first impeachment complaint was filed with the Secretary General of the House of Representatives on July 22, 2010 while the second complaint was filed on Aug. 3, 2010, or just 12 days after the filing of the first complaint and well within the one year bar.

In their comment to the Ombudsman’s petition, former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros along with retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, both of whom lost in the senatorial polls under the Liberal Party, and the parents of Navy Ensign Philip Pestaño, who was found dead on board a naval vessel where he was serving as cargo officer in 1995, insisted that it is within the exclusive.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100928hed2.html