(Eagle News) — President Benigno Aquino III on Monday said it should be the Judicial and Bar Council that should explain why Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was deemed qualified for the post despite her failure to submit all her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, among others.
“Sila (JBC) magbibigay ng listahan na ‘di puwedeng pakialamanan, lalo na ng presidente, lalo na iyong nasa listahan, tapos doon ka lang mamimili….Sila (JBC) dapat sumagot no’n dahil kapag binigay sa akin ang listahan, ibig sabihin qualified sila (nominees)..Mahirap no, mabibigay sa iyo: ‘Ito listahan ng mga taong qualified.’ Pagpili mo, ‘Oo nga pala hindi ‘yan qualified.’ Ano ba talaga?” he asked.
Aquino made the statement when asked for a reaction to the filing of a graft complaint against him, Sereno and several others over her appointment as Chief Justice.
The complaint filed by the Volunteers Crime and Corruption’s Manny Luna and suspended lawyer Eligio Mallari before the Office of the Ombudsman alleged Aquino, JBC executive director Annaliza Ty-Capacite and the chief of the JBC’s office of selection and nomination Richard Pascual conspired to appoint Sereno to the top Supreme Court post even if she was not qualified.
In arguing that Sereno was a “de facto” chief justice, the complainants said she failed to submit her SALNs during the time she taught at the University of the Philippines, and obtained failing marks in her psychiatric exams, among others.
(Aquino and the others) gave “unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference to Sereno through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence, in violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019,” the complainants said.
