complainant that the income was not reflected in the same year the case was won does

not qualify as a misdeclaration of SALN. The income was included in the SALN but
since it was given in an instalment basis, the whole amount is not reflected in a single
SALN but it was distributed according to the instalment made by the government.

In the Betrayal of Public Trust allegation, Gadon said that that the Chief Justice
committed a falsification of a TRO and the creation an office beyond her powers. These
acts according to Justice De Castro undermine the Judiciary.

The testimonies provided by Justice De Castro’s of the alleged acts of CJ Sereno

undermining the Supreme Court are found to be lacking in exhibiting that there is indeed
betrayal of public trust. CJ Sereno merely acted within the confines of her office’s
power. The alleged tampering of a TRO by the Chief Justice Sereno by enacting a
blanket TRO covering all of the partylist as against the proposal of Justice De Castro is
unfounded and baseless. The role of Justice de Castro is merely to propose a draft and
it is within the discretion CJ Sereno whether to adopt fully, modify or disregard the
same. As regards to the creation of the office in Region 7, Justice De Castro said that it
is only the legislative who have the capacity to create such office. But ironically she
admittedly stated that an individual can also be empowered to create offices by virtue of
a positive act from the congress. As in this case the law specifically provides that the
Office of Court Administrator (OCA) is expressly allowed by law to make such offices as
deemed needed. The documentary evidences provided shows that the Chief Justice
merely adopted an en banc resolution allowing the OCA to create the office involved.

The acts of CJ Sereno cannot constitute a culpable violation of Public Trust nor
does it shows that there are irregularities in her acts. Even if it there have been
irregularities and the evidence proves that she have acted beyond her authority, it still
does not fall under any of the impeachable offenses. If any of the act was deemed
made in excess of her authority, the Supreme Court acting as a collegial body should
punish the Chief Justice, as such matters should be resolved within the confines of the
Court.

The accounts from the personalities who have testified and the person who filed
the impeachment case does not provide an account of an impeachable offense. The
grounds are being moulded and the acts have been twisted in to show that the
magistrate is living a luxurious life way out her means and that she is undermining the
very institution she is serving. Atty. Gadon’s grounds for the impeachment are based on
nothing more than hearsay evidences and those persons who he acknowledge as the
sources have outright denied giving him any information. There is also an obvious case
building by the member of the House of the Representatives, as exemplified in one of
the acts by a member of the House of Representatives in modifying a ground mentioned
by the complainant to become an impeachable offense. (e.g. Gadon in his affidavit
cannot point out anything wrong in the SUV purchase, one of the Congressman pointed
out that there is an alleged irregularity in the process of purchasing).

An impeachment proceeding is not a mere administrative function that should be

taken lightly, as the balance of power between the branches of the government is at
stake. Basing it merely on hearsay evidences and the case was being built up by the
very member of the impeachment committee is evident of a bias proceeding. One must
look not on the Chief Justice as the one who is guilty of Betrayal of Public Trust but
rather we must look for the people who are willing to disturb the balance of power
between the branches of the government in order to bully a vocal champion of justice to
submission. Perhaps the best way to sum up this impeachment proceeding is from the
words of the Late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on her vote for the impeachment
hearing of the Late Chief Justice Corona “What a hypocritical accusation. That is a
problem with this country. We are all for honest government, and yet the world
condemns us as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.”