(Eagle News) – The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to “submit her comment” to the petition for quo warranto filed by the Office of the Solicitor General that questioned her eligibility to hold the position of Chief Justice.
SC Public Information Office chief Atty. Theodore Te made this announcement in a press briefing Tuesday afternoon, March 6, 2018.
He said that with the directive from the tribunal, this does not mean the court was giving due course to the petition.
Sereno, who was on leave starting March 1, was given 10 days from receipt of notice to submit her comment to the quo warranto petition.
“In the matter of GR no. 237428, Republic of the Philippines represented by the Solicitor General versus the Chief Justice, the court without giving due course to the petition required the respondent to submit her comment on the petition for quo warranto within a period of 10 days from receipt of notice,” Te said reading a directive from the Supreme Court.
He said that only Associate Justice Justice Marvic Leonen dissented “on the ground that in his opinion, the petition should be dismissed outright.”
Solicitor General Jose Calida filed the quo warranto petition on Monday, March 5, asking the Supreme Court to declare as void the Sereno’s 2012 appointment as Chief Justice and asking the tribunal to “oust” her from her position.
Calida said Sereno was ineligible to hold the position in the first place after the recent discovery that she had failed to file the required Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth or SALN.
He said that Sereno was required by law to file more or less 10 SALNs during the period that she was serving as a professor at the University of the Philippines College of law from 1986 to 2006. Calida said Sereno failed to comply with this requirement, thus violating the law and the Constitution.
“Unfortunately for respondent Sereno she failed the test of integrity when she failed to file more or less 10 SALNs,” Calida said.
The government’s chef lawyer said that the Chief Justice violated “Section 17 Article 11 on the accountability of public officers with regards to the submission of SALN” and Republic Act 3109 which also requires SALN submissions by public officers.
“The blatant disregard by respondent Sereno to comply with the requirements of the law and the Constitution proves her lack of integrity; hence, she is unlawfully holding the position of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,” Calida explained.
Sereno has been on leave since Thursday, March 1, after 13 of the Supreme Court justices during deliberations on Feb. 27 “arrived at a consensus” for her to take an “”indefinite leave.”
The Chief Justice’s spokespersons earlier claimed Sereno was taking a previously scheduled “wellness leave” to prepare for the impeachment trial at the Senate, forcing the tribunal to issue a statement correcting this on March 1.
The justices also said that Sereno’s erroneous media releases had “seriously damaged the integrity of the judiciary in general, and the Supreme Court in particular.”
(Eagle News Service)