MANILA - A congressman who is leading impeachment hearings against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Thursday denied a newspaper report that said he was being considered to head the justice department.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali may replace Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, who is reportedly considering running for the Senate next year, the report said.

Umali, who chairs the House justice committee, is a member of President Rodrigo Duterte's PDP Laban party. Umali last year led an investigation into alleged drug-dealing inside the national penitentiary that supposedly involved Sen. Leila de Lima.

"Produkto siguro ng fake news iyan," Umali said of the report in a DZMM interview.

"Fake news dahil wala pong ganyang napag-uusapan at ako'y walang kamalay-malay sa mga ganyan," he added.

(That is probably the product of fake news. It's fake news because there are no talks about that and I have no inkling about it.)

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The congressman said he wanted to focus on the impeachment hearings against Sereno and end the proceedings before the Holy Week break.

If the House plenary passes the impeachment complaint before Holy Week, it will be elevated to the Senate impeachment court by May, he earlier said.

• Sereno impeachment trial by May?
• 3 more justices to testify in Sereno impeach hearing: Umali