De Lima, Trillanes seek dismissal of quo warranto

MANILA, Philippines — Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila de Lima prodded the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to dismiss the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for lack of jurisdiction.

The two senators filed the joint intervention as Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, acting chief justice, said they will decide on Sereno’s case before the end of May.

Speaking at the Senate, Trillanes and former solicitor general Florin Hilbay, the senators’ counsel, said the manifestation was meant to remind the SC magistrates that the quo warranto proceedings are illegal and unconstitutional and would end up diminishing the power of the Senate as impeachment court.

“I am appealing to the Supreme Court justices to do the right thing. Take a second look, reflect on this and set aside your personal differences for the sake of the institution,” Trillanes said.

According to Trillanes, he and De Lima have a say on the issue since the Constitution provides that impeachable officers can only be removed through impeachment and in this process, they would serve as judges.

Hilbay said there is a need for the Senate to be heard on this issue because the SC does not have jurisdiction over the matter of removing a sitting member of the court as clearly stated in the Constitution.

“So we don’t need to quibble about the technicalities. The only question is any direct or indirect proceeding for removing an impeachable public officer should be done through the political institution designed by the Constitution for doing just that,” Hilbay said.

Hilbay also noted how the House of Representatives conducted its own proceedings based on the same grounds raised by Calida in his quo warranto petition, which he said is not only surprising but illegal because there cannot be parallel proceedings on the same case.

The quo warranto petition of Calida seeks to nullify the appointment of Sereno as chief justice on the ground that she failed to submit her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth to the Judicial and Bar Council.

In the House committee on justice, the same issue was included in the impeachment complaint against Sereno.

Hilbay noted the hostile environment during the oral arguments on the quo warranto petition where the “cold and neutral and impartial” behavior of judges could no longer be seen.

“And that is why we are making this appeal and manifestation before the Supreme Court: that the judgment of our magistrates could be clouded already and therefore, we somehow need to remind them about this,” Hilbay said.   – With Janvic Mateo