(Eagle News) — Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno arrived early in the Supreme Court on Friday, May 11, the day the en banc was expected to vote on the quo warranto petition filed against her.
Her supporters, wearing white, camped out in front of the High Court on Padre Faura St. since Thursday night, carrying banners that said “Ang katuwiran ng Diyos,” “Ang katotohanan ng Diyos,” among others.
The group has since maintained the petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida should be junked, saying impeachment was the only constitutional way to decide on the fate of the Chief Justice.
A few meters away, protesters led by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio gathered, carrying their own tarpaulins calling for either the petition to proceed, or for Sereno to resign.
“Sereno, walang SALN, kaya dapat tanggalin!” a banner by the Citizens Crime Watch read.
“Yes yes yo! quo warranto! No no no to Sereno!” another banner read.
The en banc is expected to hold a special session to vote on the quo warranto petition starting 10 a.m.
Sereno has said she would preside over the session, but would inhibit herself from participating in discussions on the petition, which essentially argues, among others, that Sereno was “unlawfully holding” on to the post because she was appointed to such “although she did not show that she is a person of proven integrity.”
According to Calida, integrity was “an indispensable qualification for membership in the judiciary under Section 7(3), Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution.”
Calida questioned Sereno’s integrity for her alleged failure to “regularly file” her Statements and Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
Sereno is also facing an impeachment complaint in Congress.
House Committee on Justice chair Reynaldo Umali on Wednesday, May 9, said the lower chamber would continue its proceedings on the complaint filed by lawyer Larry Gadon against Sereno, regardless of the decision of the SC on the quo warranto petition.
The House justice committee approved six articles of impeachment against Sereno, such as her alleged non-filing and non-disclosure of SALNs, alleged misrepresentation that she is a person of proven integrity and probity when she applied for the positions of Associate Justice in 2010 and Chief Justice in 2012, alleged failure to declare 11 filed SALNs for 1998, 2002, 2006, 2009, and 2010 to 2016, among others.
The articles of impeachment are based on four grounds: culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes.
The committee report and the articles of impeachment have been transmitted to the House Committee on Rules, which is tasked to calendar them for voting in the plenary.
If approved by at least one-third of all members of the House of Representatives, the documents will be transmitted to the Senate, which will act as an impeachment court.
However, Senate President Koko Pimentel said that if the SC declares Sereno’s appointment as Chief Justice nullified, it would likely vote on whether or not the impeachment trial should proceed against her.
“If majority says na ok it’s a valid removal, then we won’t proceed, but if majority says invalid and there’s someone to remove therefore tuloy natin ang impeachment,” he said.