(Eagle News) — Chief Justice-on leave Maria Lourdes Sereno said she has sought the inhibition of Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro from the quo warranto case filed against her.
Sereno made the revelation in a statement on Friday, April 6, two days after she already filed a motion for inhibition against Associate Justices Noel Tijam, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin and Francis Jardeleza.
According to Sereno, in the 30-page motion filed through her lawyers led by Alex Poblador, she argued that De Castro had “repeatedly manifested actual bias, if not personal animosity” towards her.
For instance, she said De Castro “already prejudged the issue regarding the validity of the Chief Justice’s nomination and subsequent appointment in 2002.”
For this, she cited De Castro’s supposed statements in a January 29 impeachment hearing—“Nakakataka ho, bakit ang (Judicial and Bar Council) isinama siya sa short list? Dapat ho disqualified siya, eh. Hindi pala siya dapat nalagay sa short list.”
According to Sereno, De Castro “even hinted” that the JBC then-headed by its acting ex-officio chair Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta “could be liable for graft for allegedly giving (her) unwarranted benefit.”
“With due respect to Justice Leonardo-De Castro, it would be contrary to normal human experience for her to suddenly repudiate her conclusions that the Chief Justice was ‘disqualified’, especially when her conclusions were made under oath,” Sereno said.
Sereno said these statements were apart from the statements De Castro supposedly hurled against her over her supposed violations of rules, practices and procedures, and her alleged lack of psychological fitness for office.
She said De Castro also “openly expressed her desire” that Sereno be removed from office due to the “long suffering” of court officers and employees under her administration.
According to Sereno, in the first place, De Castro has a “personal interest” in the outcome of the quo warranto case, as she was a “material witness” against her in the impeachment proceedings.
“Her (De Castro) disqualification is thus mandatory under the pertinent provisions of the Canons of Judicial Ethics, the New Code of Judicial Conduct, the 1989 Code of Judicial Conduct, and the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court,” Sereno said.
“Considering her high profile and spirited public participation in the impeachment proceedings against the Chief Justice, she should, with due respect, bear in mind that her decision ‘to sit or not to sit’ on this case will affect to a great extent ‘the all-important confidence’ of the public in the ability of this Honorable Court to render justice impartially,” Sereno said.