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MANILA, Philippines – The impeachment case against Associate Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen could be part of an elaborate conspiracy to increase former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s chances of winning his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, the Senator Francis Pangilinan suggested Tuesday.
“It is a corrupt, blatantly opportunistic and insidious attempt to steal the vice president position. [four] years after 2016 and after disastrously failing to prove fraud, ”Pangilinan told the Inquirer in a Viber message.
He said he hoped the House of Representatives would not waste its time on the case “considering that the state of our economy is in shambles and the need to focus all of our time, energy and attention on fixing this.”
Pangilinan, president of the opposition Liberal Party, which is chaired by Robredo, did not elaborate on his claim, but other critics were quick to point to associations between Marcos’ camp and Leonen’s accusers.
‘Nothing to do with it’
Marcos’ side rejected on Tuesday insinuations that the defeated vice presidential candidate was behind the filing of the impeachment complaint against Leonen, whom he had accused of delaying his electoral protest against Robredo.
“No, [Marcos] He is not connected and has nothing to do with the accusation filed against… Leonen, ”said Vic Rodríguez, lawyer for the son and namesake of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
“We refrain from commenting on an event or case in which we are not a party, as it is inappropriate for someone to make a wild accusation about something that they do not have a basic understanding of the accusations, they have not read the complaint and they are just the usual ballyhoos ,” he said.
Leonen is the Supreme Court magistrate in charge of Marcos’ pending electoral fraud complaints against Robredo in the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
Attorney Lorenzo Gadon, a known Marcos supporter, filed the impeachment lawsuit on behalf of a client against Leonen on Monday. His complaint was later supported by a cousin of Marcos, the representative of Ilocos Norte, Angelo Marcos Barba.
Both denied that the complaint was related to the Robredo case, but it was not the first time that Marcos supporters targeted Leonen.
Gadon, along with another Marcos supporter, Attorney General José Cálida, attempted to obtain copies of Leonen’s previous wealth declarations from the Supreme Court to support a guarantee quo case against him, the same legal maneuver that led to the impeachment of the president of the Supreme Court María Lourdes Sereno. in 2018.
However, the Supreme Court denied the request.
Marcos’s camp had also tried and failed to get Leonen to back down from the electoral case against the vice president.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, in a separate statement, called the impeachment demand “a distraction that will only drag lawmakers and the public into a senseless political fiasco.”
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