The Philippine Supreme Court chief justice vowed to fight “bullying” and save judicial independence as President Rodrigo Duterte’s congressional allies launched an impeachment process March 8 to remove her from office. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS
(Eagle News) – “The call to impeach the Chief Justice did not originate from the Executive.”
This was how Malacanang rebuked the move of various lawyers’ groups to submit a report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Diego Sayan, complaining about President Rodrigo’s remarks against Chief Justice on leave Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr., also noted that Sereno’s fellow justices in the Supreme Court were the ones who spoke against the alleged irregularities being committed by Sereno.
“Let the facts speak for themselves: Some justices of the Supreme Court appeared in the House of Representatives and testified against the Chief Justice during the Committee on Justice impeachment hearings,” Roque said.
“The Chief Justice was made to go on indefinite leave by her colleagues to protect the integrity and reputation of the court after it became clear that the CJ failed to file some of her annual SALN (Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth). In addition, the SC allowed the oral arguments for the quo warranto petition,” he explained.
Roque said that President Duterte himself had been “silent about the issue for the longest time.”
This was despite the repeated allegations made by Sereno that Duterte was behind moves to impeach her in various speaking engagements all over the country since she went on leave on March 1.
He said that the President’s reaction to Sereno’s insistence that he was behind the moves to remove her from office had irked the President.
Before this, Duterte had been repeatedly denying that he was in any way involved in the impeachment complaint, nor in the quo warranto petition filed against Sereno by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
“Sinabi ko na kay Chief Justice Sereno: I’m not into the habit of maghabol ng kalaban, I have no history on that. Ikaw, Sereno, sinabi ko na sa ‘yo hindi ako nakialam, if you are insisting then count me in. Count me in and I will egg Calida to do his best,” Duterte said then.
He said he would “request Congress (to) go into the impeachment right away because the two entities can hear it simultaneously.”
“They can proceed with the quo warranto, ang quo warranto (ay nasa) Supreme Court, ang impeachment ay Congress,” he said, adding that Sereno was “bad for the Philippines.”
“Sinasabi ko na sa iyo na hindi ako nakikialam. Now sige ka, daldal nang daldal o sige, upakan kita…So I’m putting you a notice that I am now your enemy and you have to be out of the Supreme Court, I will see to it,” he added.
Roque said that these statements of the President was in reaction to Sereno’s constant rants against the Chief Executive.
“The President’s rebuke of the Chief Justice must therefore be taken as a dislike of the Chief Justice and not an attack to the judiciary or an affront to judicial independence,” he stressed.
The various lawyers’ groups, however, saw the President’s pronouncements against Sereno as an attack on the judiciary itself.
The lawyers’ groups who submitted their report against the Philippine president to UN special rapporteur Diego Garcia Sayan include the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), National Union of People’s Lawyers, Alternative Law Groups, Ateneo Human Rights Center, Free Legal Assistance Group, Manananggol Laban sa EJKs and the International Pro Bono Alliance.
“The recent tirades of the President against the Chief Justice do not sound at all foreboding. They rather expectedly punctuate the long-winded attacks on judicial independence that began almost two years ago, when the Chief Justice dared resist an apparent intrusion into judicial power,” their statement said.
“It appears that lawyers who criticize government policies, as well as those whose clients have been tagged as ‘dissenters’ or ‘activists’ are harassed. The lawyers are labeled ‘rebels’ and ‘criminals’ and consequently subjected to intense surveillance,” they said.
They claimed that the President’s statements should be considered as threats to the independence of judges and lawyers in the country.
The lawyers’ groups’ did not mention, however, reports about the call of various judges and court employees’ groups that previously called for Sereno’s immediate resignation.
The call was made on March 12 by the Philippine Judges Association President and Marikina RTC Judge Felix Reyes, Supreme Court Employees Association (SCEA), Supreme Court Assembly of Lawyer Employees (SCALE), the Philippine Association of Court Employees (PACE), and the Sandiganbayan Employees Association (SEA)
They called for the immediate resignation of on-leave Supreme Court Chief Justice Sereno, saying that she should make this sactifice to preserve the integrity of the tribunal.
Their statement was ready during the Supreme Court flag ceremony in the SC ground that morning where nine of the SC justices were also present, namely Supreme Court Associate justices Noel Tijam, Mariano del Castillo, Francis Jardeleza, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Presbiterio Velasco, Teresita de Castro, Samuel Martires, and Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio.
SC justices Bersamin, De Castro, Tijam, Jardeleza, and Peralta also testified against Sereno during the hearings before the House Justice committee on the impeachment complaint filed against her by lawyer Larry Gadon.
Sereno had sought the inhibition of the said five justices in the quo warranto hearings against her, saying her fellow justices had already exhibited “bias” and “animosity” toward her, and therefore “cannot decide the quo warranto petition objectively and impartially.”
(Eagle News Service)