(Eagle News)–Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday said there was a possibility the Supreme Court, and not the Senate, would decide Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s fate.
“The possibility of the impeachment not going through is there. Why? Because of the statement of the leaders of the House of Representatives is that they will wait for the Supreme Court resolution,” Drilon told reporters.
Drilon was referring to the resolution on the quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General against Sereno before the SC.
The petition seeks to declare null her appointment as Chief Justice.
The SC has given Sereno ten days to comment on the petition.
According to Drilon, the action of the House of Representatives, which is slated to vote on whether there is probable cause for the impeachment complaint filed against Sereno, “will be governed by what the SC does. ”
“If the SC says that the quo warranto is not the correct remedy, then they may or may not send to us the articles of impeachment, if there is probable cause,” Drilon said.
“If the SC says they have jurisdiction and will decide on the merits, and says that the Chief Justice is not eligible or did not have the qualification, even if you don’t agree with that, that is what will be recognized as the state of things, and therefore the House of Representatives will not send the articles of impeachment and that’s the end of it,” he added.
Earlier, Senate President Koko Pimentel said the chamber was preparing for the possible transmittal of the Articles of Impeachment from the House of Representatives.
But Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said it was “better to wait” for the decision of the SC on the quo warranto petition “for practical purposes.”