(Eagle News) –The Supreme Court was “correct” in its decision to nullify Maria Lourdes Sereno’s appointment as Chief Justice, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.
According to Guevarra though, there was a need to make the rules clear so as to “avoid a similar situation in the future.”
“Now the Constitution is proposed to be amended, we’d rather make it very clear in the Constitution that the only way — only way — to remove impeachable officers will be by impeachment,” he told CNN Philippines on Thursday, June 21.
If this was not the case, Guevarra said “the Supreme Court may change the Rules of Court pertaining to quo warranto and make it very clear likewise that even impeachable officers may be subjected to quo warranto.”
“Either way, the need is to clarify,” he said.
In granting the quo warranto petition filed against Sereno which led to her ouster on May 11, the Supreme Court, voting 8-6, said she lacked the integrity required of applicants to the post because she did not file her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth while she was teaching law at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
The SC also made a distinction between quo warranto, a “judicial” process, and impeachment, a “political” process.
Acting on her appeal, the SC later upheld its May 11 decision, saying Sereno did not raise any new argument that warrant a reversal of the same.