DOJ: Supreme Court can oust Chief Justice Sereno

‘Red Monday’ at SC today

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) can order the removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno from the top judicial post by invalidating her appointment in 2012, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said yesterday.

Aguirre, an ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) that vets candidates to judicial posts, rebutted the claim of Sereno’s camp that she could be removed from office only through conviction in an impeachment trial at the Senate.

“If your appointment is void ab initio or invalid from the beginning, I believe that a petition for quo warranto will suffice to remove you from your position notwithstanding the fact that you are an impeachable official,” Aguirre explained in a text message.

A quo warranto petition challenges the legal basis of one’s appointment and seeks the removal of the respondent from office because of lack of qualification or legal basis to continue holding such office.

Aguirre, who earlier testified in the impeachment proceedings against Sereno before the House of Representatives committee on justice, believes that the validity of Sereno’s appointment due to her failure to meet the 10-year requirement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) requirement for the chief justice post is a justiciable issue that the high court should resolve.

But the camp of Sereno branded the move to oust her via quo warranto petition in the SC as “patently unconstitutional” and a “mockery of the rule of law.”

Suspended lawyer Eligio Mallari recently asked Solicitor General Jose Calida to file the quo warranto petition before the SC seeking to invalidate Sereno’s appointment in 2012.

If granted by the Court, the chief justice could be ordered to vacate her post without the need to complete the ongoing impeachment proceedings in the House.

The House panel recently announced it has found probable cause in several of the impeachment charges against Sereno. Once approved by the House plenary, the chief justice will be impeached and the Articles of Impeachment filed in the Senate for trial.

‘Red Monday’

As this developed, SC employees are wearing red during their flag-raising ceremony this morning to show “love and support” to the 13 magistrates who compelled Sereno to take an indefinite leave.

The indefinite leave of Sereno was a consensus among the justices during their session last Tuesday, with a statement signed by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Leonen, Francis Jardeleza, Samuel Martires, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr. and Alexander Gesmundo.

Only Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa did not sign the letter because he was on leave.

“The members of the judiciary support our beloved Supreme Court justices. We believe that their action was for the good of the entire judiciary,” explained the source, an officer of an organization of court employees who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak for their group.

Judges and staff in regional trial courts will also wear red today, according to an insider.

To recall, judges and court employees also held a “Black Monday” protest during the impeachment of the late chief justice Renato Corona to support him. In today’s situation, however, court employees are not supporting Sereno.

The STAR reported earlier that Solicitor General Jose Calida’s office has started to draft the quo warranto petition and could file it before the SC within this week or the next.

A court insider also bared that several justices have discussed the quo warranto proceedings as a possibility to settle the question on legitimacy of Sereno’s appointment.

The justices have tackled in their regular session this issue that was raised in a letter from the House justice committee.

They decided to require Sereno and regular members and officers of the JBC to answer the letter. Also covered by the order are JBC members Jose Mejia and Ma. Milagros Cayosa, former members retired justices Aurora Lagman and Regino Hermosisima Jr., executive officer Annaliza Capacite, and former chief of office of selection and nomination, now Judge Richard Pascual.

In its two-page letter obtained by The STAR, the House justice committee asked the SC justices to take “appropriate action” on the preliminary finding in the impeachment proceedings that Sereno supposedly did not comply with the 10-year SALN requirement for her chief justice application.

Among the documents forwarded to the high court were certifications issued by the University of the Philippines and Office of the Ombudsman showing that Sereno only filed SALNs in 2009, 2010 and 2011 prior to her appointment as chief justice.

In their earlier testimonies before the House panel, Peralta and De Castro slammed the failure of Sereno to meet such documentary requirement during her application for the chief justice post to replace Corona.

Peralta said this development puts into question the legitimacy of Sereno’s appointment, which he said could be considered “void from the start,” and that her holding the position may be only for de facto status.

De Castro believed that it was “great injustice” for other nominees for the chief justice post knowing that the one appointed by former president Benigno Aquino III was actually not qualified due to incomplete requirements.

Meanwhile, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez yesterday said Chief Justice Sereno is a “hypocrite” who engages in “double talk” in making it appear that she was not given the chance to rebut the impeachment charges against her.

“The House committee on justice gave her all the opportunity but she was so afraid to confront the truth. It’s hypocrisy – plain and simple,” the leader of the House said, in reply to Sereno’s wish for her to be given her day in court.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali – chairman of the justice committee – agreed with the statement of the Speaker that Sereno has no right to ask for her day in the Senate impeachment court because she was free to rebut the charges to begin with.

Umali believes the evidence against Sereno is “strong,” noting that her violation on the filing of SALN alone is much worse than her predecessor, Corona, who concealed $750,000 in dollar accounts in a local bank.

 “This is non-filing and not just misdeclaration,” he explained. “Not only that, she also didn’t declare two of their properties in Davao City and Bataan,” he added, quoting Land Registration Authority deputy administrator Ronaldo Ortile.

Ortile testified that Sereno and her lawyer-husband Mario Jose failed to include in their SALN two of the six real estate properties they have, the four others being in Rizal province and in Cavite. – With Delon Porcalla