‘No coordinated effort to unseat CJ Maria Lourdes Sereno’

MANILA, Philippines — The private lawyers behind the impeachment case and quo warranto request against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno have denied that there is a “coordinated effort” to remove her from office.

Their denial came as lawyer Larry Gadon, the complainant in the Sereno impeachment case, expressed support for the quo warranto petition filed by suspended lawyer Eligio Mallari before the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

Gadon said he now would rather have a quo warranto case against Sereno to hasten her ouster instead of the tedious Senate impeachment trial.

He explained that a constitutionally mandated Congress impeachment trial would always be tainted with politics unlike a quo warranto case, which is decided based on legalities. But he stressed he still believes in the viability of the impeachment proceedings.

“I believe in the impeachment case – that the Congress would vote to impeach her and convict her. However, if there is an issue of her appointment being void. I’d rather that she be removed based on purely legal reason,” he said at a forum in Quezon City.

Lawyer Manuel Luna, who represents Mallari, said they do not have anything to do with Gadon even if they share the same wish of having Sereno ousted. But Luna admitted the arguments they presented in their quo warranto petition were based on information gathered from the series of hearings conducted by the House justice committee.

He even likened Sereno to a poison that is slowly killing the entire Supreme Court, hence the need to have her removed as soon as possible.

The anti-Sereno lawyers dispelled insinuations they were forum shopping, saying the quo warranto case deals with her appointment while the impeachment complaint tackles infractions she committed in office.