(Eagle News) — The Palace on Friday, Aug. 24, expressed confidence the impeachment complaints filed against the seven Supreme Court justices who voted for the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno as Chief Justice will be dismissed.
“Naniniwala po kami na walang merito iyan at inaasahan namin na mababasura kaagad iyan ng Committee on Justice,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview over radio dzRH.
According to Roque, it was the SC’s mandate to act on the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Sereno in the first place.
Calida had argued Sereno’s appointment as Chief Justice should be nullified because she lacked the integrity required of applicants to the post in the first place.
He said this was because she failed to file her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth when she was teaching law at the University of the Philippines.
“So hindi ko po maintindihan kung bakit pina-impeach (ang pito),” Roque said.
On Thursday, Aug. 23, Albay. Rep. Edcel Lagman and several lawmakers filed impeachment complaints against Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Andres Reyes Jr., Alexander Gesmundo, and Noel Tijam before the House of Representatives’ Office of the Secretary-General.
Lagman had said the filing of the complaints meant De Castro, Peralta, Bersamin and Reyes would be disqualified from vying for the Chief Justice post, but this was refuted by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, a Judicial and Bar Council member, who said the “mere filing of an impeachment complaint was not enough to disqualify as it has not matured into an impeachment case.”
On May 11, the SC en banc granted Calida’s petition, paving the way for Sereno’s ouster.
The SC decision was affirmed with finality in June.