(Eagle News) — Lawyer Oliver Lozano on Friday asked the Supreme Court to declare void the appointment of Maria Lourdes Sereno as Chief Justice.
In asking for the declaration in his four-page petition, Lozano said any public official “should be above reproach and suspicion..”
He noted Sereno’s alleged failure to comply with the “mandatory legal requirements” for her appointment, apparently referring to the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth Sereno failed to submit when she was a law professor at the University of the Philippines.
He also noted the impeachment complaint she faces, which he said has “caused deep division and dissension in the Bench and the Bar.”
“To end forthwith the divisive, disastrous and internationally ignominious controversy, and thus preserve the integrity of the judiciary and public faith in the justice system, we respectfully submit that the activist and revered Supreme Court can, under its inherent and plenary powers, promptly rule motu propio, upon the validity of Chief Justice Sereno’s appointment,” he said.
He added that such a verdict would also “preserve the independence of the judiciary from Congress.” Moira Encina