Gadon on guilty verdict: 'I don't care'

Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation, Secretary Larry Gadon, said on Friday that he does not care about the Supreme Court's decision finding him guilty of gross misconduct for committing perjury and making accusations based on hearsay.

Gadon said, "It was political," since the decision was made public a day after he declared that Vice President Sara Duterte would no longer win in any position she aspired to in the 2028 elections because of her father (former president Rodrigo Duterte), the Duterte supporters and paid vloggers' tirade against President Bongbong Marcos.

"Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo remember was (former president Rodrigo) Duterte's appointee as an associate and Chief Justice. He was also not only a professor of Sara but also a friend," Gadon pointed out in a press conference he called in Quezon City.

Gadon also pointed to SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen as the one who instigated the release of the high court's decision against him which was promulgated on 21 April 2024 and was published on 23 May 2024.

"Nag-instigate din niyan ay si Justice 'Marivic' Leonen. Because in 2019, I filed an impeachment complaint against him. He was just saved by former Speaker Lord Allan Velasco whose father, a retired SC Associate Justice, also ay best friend niya (Leonen)," Gadon said.

What the Palace official see in the latest turn of events was a big support coming from Ilocanos, or the so-called die-hard Marcos Loyalists.

"Lalo ako naging hero sa paningin ng mga Marcos loyalists, kasi alam nila where I stand, against the destruction of the dignity of President Bongbong Marcos."

"I'm not really affected. More than 10 years na akong di nagpapractice (lawyering), with my stature now alangan namang mag-a-appear-appear pa ko sa nga korte," Gadon explained.

He added that since 2014 he stopped and retired from appearing in courts and even before that he was more of a corporate executive than a practicing lawyer.

"So this disbarment did not affect me whatsoever, more so financially as I earn more as a corporate executive. Regarding the the violation of verification in the impeachment complaint against Justice Sereno, the allegations therein were not fully ventilated and heard because the hearings ended abruptly as it was overtaken by supervening events particularly the removal of Sereno as Chief Justice," Gadon stressed.

"Besides, the Sereno impeachment complaint was filed at the House of Representatives not in the Supreme Court, so if there is a body that should rule on any irregularity, if any, on the allegations in the complaint, it should be the HOR not the SC," the Palace official further explained.