InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- Busy with the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the House justice committee cancelled a hearing on the pending impeachment complaint against Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo.
The hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. But Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., the committee chairman, announced Monday afternoon that it has been cancelled.
The committee is racing against time to vote on the Del Castillo case as only five session days of the 60 session days allotted to it are left for the panel to dispose of the case.
In an interview, Tupas said the committee members will still have to “on what directions really to take” on the complaint.
He said the committee has three options: one, complete the process and impeach Del Castillo; two, vote to dismiss it; and three, dismiss it for lack of time.
Tupas, who also heads the prosecution panel in the Corona impeachment trial, acknowledged that a number of the justice committee members, including him are preoccupied with the ongoing trial.
The justice committee was supposed to vote Tuesday on the sufficiency in grounds of the complaint against the associate justice. It earlier voted that it is sufficient in form and substance.
The complaint against del Castillo stemmed from the decision he penned, portions of which were allegedly plagiarized. It was filed in December 2009, ahead of the Corona complaint.
