An anticorruption group on Monday urged the Supreme Court to investigate and punish Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro for allegedly breaking the high court’s internal rules by disclosing “confidential matters” that were used in the impeachment case against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in the House of Representatives. The information that De Castro allegedly gave to Manila Times reporter Jomar Canlas was cited by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon in the impeachment complaint he brought against Sereno. But the complaint, submitted by Jociel Camarillo-Quilban, did not identify the court matters and information that De Castro had allegedly given to Canlas. The group said De Castro might have violated Rule 9 and Rule 10 of the Supreme Court’s internal rules that spelled out policies on the confidentiality of the full court’s sessions and deliberations. Similar letters were written by former Associate Justice Arturo Brion and other Supreme Court officials, including Administrator Jose Midas Marquez and public information office chief Theodore Te.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 27, 2017 23:15 UTC