COURT Administrator Jose Midas Marquez yesterday denied reports that Del Castillo will retire or resign in exchange for the dismissal of impeachment complaint against him over the supposed plagiarism in his ponencia dismissing the case of “comfort women” against the Japanese government.

Marquez clarified that Del Castillo will take a “wellness leave” next week to undergo treatment of clogged arteries.

“He will continue serving as SC justice. There is no indication that he will retire or resign,” he told reporters.

“But he is set to go on leave next week possibly for another heart bypass,” Marquez said.

Del Castillo’s leave, according to Marquez, will be for two to three weeks.

Marquez said that Del Castillo had undergone a heart bypass several years ago, but apparently, the operation was not successful because some arteries remained clogged.

“So he needs another operation,” Marquez said.

Reports said Del Castillo was offered a choice to either resign or opt for early retirement to save himself from the embarrassment of an impeachment trial, which Chief Justice Renato Corona is now undergoing.

The House Committee on Justice yesterday declared the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo has sufficient grounds.

Voting 27-4 with one abstention, the complaint was kept alive and will proceed to the determination of probable cause in the next hearing.

The committee has only four session days left to elevate the impeachment complaint to the plenary for concurrence.

It was Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman who abstained as he manifested that the committee has no more jurisdiction over the case because it already consumed the 60 session days mandated under the Constitution.

In fact, Lagman moved for the dismissal of the complaint because the committee has already consumed 84 days in deliberating the case. However he lost by a vote of 28 not in favor and four in favor.

“Verily, the Committee on Justice has lost jurisdiction over the subject impeachment complaint. Perforce, the impeachment complaint against Associate Justice Mariano C. del Castillo must be dismissed automatically,” Lagman said in his letter to Justice committee chairman Niel Tupas, Jr.

Del Castillo was accused of plagiarizing the case of comfort women, rejecting their petition to compel the Philippine government to lobby Japan to apologize for its wartime offenses and to pay reparations to the victims of sexual abuse during World War II.

The committee proceeded with the deliberation of the impeachment case of Del Castillo amid the ongoing impeachment trial against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Tupas overruled the objection of Lagman saying that there were only 55 session days since the filing of the complaint.

Deputy Speaker Raul Daza explained that suspended session was not counted one session day. Only adjournment counted as one session day, he added.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II in an interview said that in the next five session days, Del Castillo or his representatives will be given one day to present their arguments against the impeachment.   With Jester P. Manalastas