(Eagle News) — High-ranking officials of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines on Friday asked the Supreme Court for them to be allowed to intervene to ask for the dismissal of the quo warranto petition filed against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
In seeking for the dismissal of the petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida, the IBP argued that it was “fatally flawed because the allegations therein are clear that the (Judicial and Bar Council) itself did not require the submission of respondent Chief Justice SALNs from 2001 to 2006.”
The IBP added that an impeachable official could only be removed through impeachment based on the Constitution, an argument used by the first two groups that filed a motion for intervention before the Supreme Court–the Makabayan bloc and others; and Catholic priest Robert Reyes and others.
The quo warranto petition sought to have Sereno’s appointment as Chief Justice nullified, citing as grounds her alleged failure to submit all her SALNs which the JBC required of all applicants.
A separate impeachment complaint has been filed against Sereno, who has been on leave since March 1.