The die is cast in the crude mold designed by the leaders of the House of Representatives in the impeachment proceeding against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

The supermajority has defied and defiled the Constitution and the Rules of the House in denying the Chief Justice the right to have her counsel confront and cross-examine the adverse witnesses even as it has jettisoned the erstwhile unbroken tradition that House Members who are not members of committees have the right to participate in the deliberations of such committees, including the Committee on Justice conducting impeachment proceedings with “right of voice, and not of vote”.

While apparently granting the Chief Justice the right to counsel, such right is derogated by disallowing her counsel to conduct the cross-examination on her behalf which is corollary to the right to counsel.

The personal appearance of the Chief Justice is not mandatory because she can effectively and legally appear by counsel.

The alibi that the Chief Justice cannot delegate her right to cross-examine to her lawyers who do not know the facts is unavailing because lawyers of the Chief Justice do not have to personally know the facts since they have been fully briefed by the Chief Justice of the relevant facts and circumstances.

No counsel of record in any case is obligated to be personally aware of the pertinent facts because he is an advocate or champion of his client, not a party or witness cognizant of the facts.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas asserted that the denial to non-members to participate is because the Committee on Justice is constituted as a “constitutional body”.

This “justification” is untenable because the right to participate by non-members of the committee is even more paramount because the impeachment proceeding has overriding consequences involving the tenure and honor of impeachable officials.

Democratic processes and constitutional principles have been abandoned which may result in a flawed impeachment proceeding.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN