(Eagle News) — Several individuals–including left-leaning lawmakers— asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to junk the quo warranto petition seeking to have the appointment of Maria Lourdes Sereno as Chief Justice annulled.
The motions for intervention and an opposition-in-intervention were jointly filed by Makabayan bloc members Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, ACT Teachers Partylist Reps. Antonio Tinio and Francisca Castro, Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Jane Elago, and Gabriela Women’s Party Reps. Emerenciana de Jesus and Arlene Brosas.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Secretary General Renato Reyes, Jr., former Senator Rene Saguisag, National Union of People’s Lawyers Secretary General Ephraim Cortez, Catholic bishop Broderick Pabillo, Aksyon Demokratiko affiliate Kaye Ann Legaspi, and the Movement Against Tyranny’s Francisco Alcuaz, Bonifacio Ilagan, and retired Colonel George Rabusa were also named as intervenors in that pleading.
Earlier, a group led by activist Catholic priest Robert Reyes filed the same motion with the same intent.
In seeking to quash the quo warranto petition, the leftist lawmakers’ group argued that impeachment was the only constitutional way to remove a Chief Justice, an argument Sereno has been using ever since.
Zarate said the filing of such a petition sets a “very dangerous and ruinous precedent that can even be used against any impeachable officer, including other justices of the Supreme Court who go against the wishes of and in the crosshairs of the administration or interest groups.”
The second group made the same argument, adding that they had the authority to file such a pleading because they were all Filipino citizens.
“Wala na pong balanse..Ang Supreme Court dapat di po nagbobow sa Malacanang,” Reyes said.
The quo warranto petition was filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida, who said the move was an “act of kindness” by a lawyer for a fellow lawyer.
An impeachment complaint has also been filed against Sereno, who has been on leave as Chief Justice since March 1.