“I will not resign.”
Opponents of chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno within the judiciary held protests today calling for her resignation, but Sereno made it clear she does not plan on going anywhere.
She spoke at a forum at the University of the Philippines Diliman and talked about the issues brought against her. She said that resigning would be the easy way out, but it would also mean she does not stand by the rule of law.
“I do not make choices in life on the basis of the easier option but what is the right thing to do. And without the slightest doubt, the right thing to do is to fight this impeachment to the end,” she said.
“Resigning from my post as chief justice will only serve to erode the independence of the Supreme Court and embolden those who demand a subservient judiciary,” she added.
The embattled chief justice said she did not start any trouble, saying those who called for her resignation “succumbed to pressures.”
“I didn’t start the fight. As I said last week, they started it. Why don’t they want to finish it? Let’s remember, I haven’t even begun to give my side of the story,” Sereno said.
The chief justice warned that others will also be subjected to the same resignation calls if she gives in.
“If I will resign, this will be repeated to the next victim. They will make a patchwork of rumors from the press, they will fabricate stories, make issues worse, and then you’ll have an impeachment,” she said.
“If they do this to me, the chief justice, they can do this to you all. Moreso if you have no backer or supporter in power,” she warned.
The call for resignation was made by the Philippine Judges Association, the Philippine Association of Court Employees, the Supreme Court Employees Association, Supreme Court Assembly of Lawyer Employees, and the Sandiganbayan Employees Association.
But a spokesperson for Sereno, lawyer Josalee Deinla, said she believes some of the personnel and other officials of the Supreme Court and other courts around the country were pressured into joining the protests.
“That ‘wear red on Monday’ movement to show that people want to call for the chief justice’s resignation, a lot of information has come to us that it wasn’t explained properly to those personnel why they had to wear red,” she added.
The House of Representatives voted to impeach Sereno 38-2 after a hearing that lasted several weeks long.
Aside from the impeachment, last week, Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a quo warranto, asking the Supreme Court to declare Sereno’s appointment null and void, questioning her qualifications to be chief justice.
The impeachment complaint filed in the House of Representatives is over alleged corruption and undeclared wealth, a similar case that was the basis of impeachment for late Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012.
The complaint will now move to impeachment court in the Senate, although there is no exact date yet when the trial will begin.
with a report from ABS-CBN News
