Philippine Supreme Court Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno faces another complaint today, this time, filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
He filed a petition — known as the quo warranto — asking the Supreme Court’s electoral tribunal to declare Sereno’s appointment to the judiciary’s top post as null and void.
Corruption allegations against Sereno had been filed in the House of Representatives by allies of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The President himself also asked Sereno to resign to “spare the judiciary from further damage.”
This time around, they’re going after the chief justice’s credentials.
“We are asking [Sereno], ‘By what authority is she holding the position of Chief Justice?’ She violated the constitutional requirements for eligibility,” he told reporters.
Although not illegal, the appointment of Sereno went against tradition in appointing the most senior member of the Supreme Court to the position of chief justice.
Calida also argued that Sereno failed to comply with requirements set by the Judicial Bar Council (JBC), including mandatory submissions of SALNs.
“By submitting SALNs less than those required by the JBC of other applicants for chief justice and without lawful justification for her noncompliance, [Sereno] was unable to prove her integrity,” Calida said.
Her predecessor, the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, was removed by an electoral tribunal in 2012 for undeclared wealth.
Reacting to the petition filed, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said the senate was ready to begin conducting an impeachment trial and did not favor the petition voiding Sereno’s appointment as chief justice.
“Under the Constitution, the meaning of the provision literally is that once in position, the high-ranking officials can only be removed from their positions through impeachment. If you invent some other proceeding which will result in the removal from office then that should violate that provision in the constitution. Pag-aralan mabuti kasi medyo malabo [That quo warranto route needs a careful study because its premise seems tenuous],” Pimentel told reporters yesterday.
Sereno, who is currently on indefinite leave to focus on her impeachment proceeding defense, said that she was going to fight the impeachment before the senate.
Her office said in a prepared statement yesterday: “[The senate] is the only body or institution that can remove her from office via two-thirds vote of all its members. She will not back down in her fight for truth and justice.”
