Bersamin criticizes Leonen for questioning majority decision

A word war of sorts has erupted within the halls of the Supreme Court (SC) as Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin continued his attack against Justice Marvic Leonen on Tuesday, August 25. In his 5-page rejoinder submitted to the SC en banc and leaked to the media, Bersamin said that Leonen violated the Court’s Internal Rules when he disclosed the “confidential” deliberation of the justices on Enrile’s plea for bail, which the high court granted. A day earlier, Bersamin filed a complaint against Leonen over the same incident. “He was a member of the minority. He should have stayed there. He should have confined himself to expressing his losing views. He should not fret and assail the process that he could not control from his side of the vote,” Bersamin stressed in bold and capital letters in his rejoinder. In his dissenting opinion posted on the Court website on August 19, Leonen narrated how the justices ended up voting on a draft decision different from what had been the subject of their previous deliberations.

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