STATEMENT ABOUT THE SC DECISION IN THE QUO WARRANTO PETITION AGAINST CJ SERENO

I extremely denounce the action made by the justices of the Supreme Court to grant the Quo Warranto petition of Solicitor General Jose Calida against the Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno for lack of integrity as she didn't submitted all of her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) to the Judicial and Bar Council when she applied to the position as Chief Justice in 2012.

Voting 8-6, the High Court favored the petition of SolGen Calida to declare as null and void the appointment of the Chief Justice six (6) years ago. According to legal experts, a quo warranto petition may only be filed within a year upon the assumption of office of the government official to be ousted. Sereno was appointed to SC in 2012, so the period for her to be removed as CJ has already lapsed in 2013.

The constitutional experts also argued that the Chief Justice can and only be ejected from her office by means of impeachment at the Senate Impeachment Court being an impeachable officer. So she cannot be removed via a quo warranto petition.

The justices who voted to grant Calida's petition include Associate Justices Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado M. Peralta, Lucas P. Bersamin, Francis H. Jardeleza, Samuel R. Martires, Noel G. Tijam, Andres B. Reyes, Jr., and Alexander G. Gesmundo. Those who voted to dismiss the petition are Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, Associate Justices Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr., Mariano C. del Castillo, Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, and Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa. Chief Justice Sereno took no part in the petition.

The Supreme Court justices who voted to grant the Quo Warranto petition (from L to R): Associate Justices Leonardo-de Castro, Peralta, Bersamin, Jardeleza, Rijam, Martires, Reyes, Jr., and Gesmundo. Photo courtesy of SC PIO.

The Supreme Court justices who voted to dismiss the Quo Warranto petition (from L to R): Senior Associate Justice and Acting Chief Justice Carpio and Associate Justices Velasco, Jr., del Castillo, PrrlsPerlas-Be, Leonen, and Caguioa. Photos downloaded from the SC website.

Some of the justices see the granting of the petition as a precedent for them to be removed via a quo warranto and not by means of impeachment. Any Solicitor General in the future can file a quo warranto petition against them if they go against a sitting government.

The government's lawyer and the highest court in the land unseat the Chief Magistrate by going beyond the Constitution and devising a new road to be able to get what they want in the Judiciary. With this measure, judicial independence has been compromised. The Court itself has been subject to the gripping hands of the Executive though it's a co-equal branch of the government.

The Filipino people lose their trust to the justice system. The Supreme Court in this decision can never be a beacon of hope to the millions of Filipinos who looks to them, the final arbiter, as the sole guardians and protectors of the Constitution.