(Eagle News) — In the House Committee on Justice’s voting on the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, 38 lawmakers overwhelmingly voted that they found probable cause to impeach the chief magistrate, while only two lawmakers voted against it.
Justice Committee Chair Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, called for the vote, and did not participate in the voting.
Interestingly, the two lawmakers who voted against the majority vote — Quezon City 6th District Representative Jose Christopher “Kit” Belmonte and Dinagat Representative Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao — also voted against the majority vote on October 5 last year.
This was when the House justice committee first voted on the sufficiency of grounds regarding the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo “Larry” Gadon against Sereno.
The lawmkers who voted to find probable cause to impeach Sereno on Thursday, March 8, are the following: (in alphabetical order)
1. Raneo Abu (Batangas 2nd District)
2. Romeo Acop (Antipolo City 2nd District)
3. Rose Marie Baby Arenas (Pangasinan 3rd District)
4. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas (Pangasinan 6th District)
5. Mylene Garcia-Albano (Davao City 2nd District)
6. Rodel Batocabe (AKO BICOL party-list)
7. Juan Pablo Bondoc (Pampanga 4th District)
8. Anthony Bravo (COOP-NATCCO party-list)
9. Ciriaco Calalang (KABAYAN party-list)
10. Luis Jose Campos (Makati City 2nd District)
11. Fredenil Castro (Capiz)
12. Vincent Crisologo (Quezon City 1st District)
13. Arthur Defensor (Iloilo 3rd District)
14. Eugene De Vera (ABS party-list)
15. Rodolfo Fariñas (Ilocos Norte 1st District)
16. Abigail Faye C. Ferriol – Pascual (KALINGA party-list)
17. Alfredo Garbin (AKO BICOL party-list)
18. Gwendolyn Garcia (Cebu 3rd District)
19. Lucy Gomez (Leyte 4th District)
20. Ruwel Peter Gonzaga (Compostela Valley 2nd District)
21. Aurelio Dong Gonzalez (Pampanga, 3rd District)
22. Gerald Anthony Gullas (Cebu 1st District)
23. Ferdinand Hernandez (South Cotabato 2nd District)
24. Ann K. Hofer (Zamboanga Sibugay, 2nd District)
25. Salvador Leachon (Oriental Mindoro 1st District)
26. Benhur Lopez (YACAP party-list)
27. Roy Loyola (Cavite 5th District)
28. Rodante Marcoleta (SAGIP party-list)
29. Roger G. Mercado (Southern Leyte)
30. Victoria Isabel Noel (AN WARAY party-list)
31. Henry Oaminal (Misamis Occidental 2nd District)
32. Johnny Ty Pimentel (Surigao Del Sur 2nd District)
33. Strike Revilla (Cavite 2nd District)
34. Xavier Jesus Romualdo (Camiguin)
35. Ron Salo (KABAYAN party-list)
36. Eric Singson (Ilocos Sur 2nd District)
37. Carlos Roman Uybarreta (1-CARE party-list)
38. Vicente Ching Veloso (Leyte 3rd District)
On Oct. 5 last year, there were 25 members of the panel who voted in October last year for the motion of Misamis Occidental Representative Henry Oaminal to approve the finding of sufficiency of grounds in Gadon’s impeachment complaint against Sereno.
They are the following (in alphabetical order):
1. Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop
2. Pangasinan Rep. Rose Marie “Baby” Arenas
3. 1-Ang Edukasyon party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro
4. COOP-NATCOO party-list Rep. Anthony Bravo
5. Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr.
6. Deputy Speaker and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro
7. Quezon City 1st District Rep. Vincent Crisologo
8. Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Arthur Defensor, Jr.
9. ABS party-list Rep. Eugene De Vera
10. Majority Leader Rodolfo Farinas
11. Deputy Speaker and Cebu City Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia
12. Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Ann Hofer
13. Oriental Mindoro Rep. Salvador Leachon
14. YACAP party-list Rep. Benhur Lopez
15. Cavite Rep. Roy Loyola
16. 1-SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta
17. AN WARAY party-list Rep. Victoria Isabel Noel
18. Misamis Occidental Rep. Henry Oaminal
19. Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque
20. Kabayan party-list Rep Ron Salo
21. Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso
22. Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales
23. Pampanga 4th District Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc
24. Iloilo 4th District Rep. Ferjenel Biron
25. Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Divina Grace Yu
In the voting Thursday on the Sereno impeachment complaint, four of the original 25 who earlier voted that the impeachment complaint of Atty. Gadon against Sereno had sufficient grounds, were not present.
They are 1-Ang Edukasyon party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro, Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Divina Grace Yu, Iloilo 4th District Rep. Ferjenel Biron, and Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque who was appointed the spokesperson of President Rodrigo Duterte on October 28 last year.
The rest were among the 38 lawmakers who voted finding probable cause to impeach the Chief Justice.
The vice-chairpersons of the committee on justice and the impeachment committee were tasked to write a committee report, as well as the articles of impeachment.