(Eagle News) — Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday, June 15, said she should not be blamed for issuing public statements after the quo warranto petition and impeachment complaint were filed against her.
In a statement issued by her legal team, Sereno, whose appointment as Chief Justice was nullified by the Supreme Court after it granted the quo warranto petition in May, said she was, after all, only responding to “vigorous assaults on her integrity.”
According to Sereno, who was responding to a show-cause order also issued against her by the High Court for her alleged violation of the sub judice rule, “no less than the Solicitor General of the Republic himself repeatedly attacked (her) and publicly discussed the merits of the (quo warranto) petition and even made personal attacks (against her), not only through the media but also through his personal social media (Twitter) account.”
She added, among other things, that the House justice committee had also denied her appeal to cross-examine those who accused her in the impeachment complaint, and the six SC justices who discussed the quo warranto petition were biased against her.
She was referring to Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam and Samuel Martires, whom she had asked to inhibit.
They refused.
“It would certainly be unjust to punish respondent for speaking publicly under the circumstances,” Sereno said.
According to Sereno, even then, “the public utterances in question did not create any serious and imminent threat to the administration of justice.”
“In no way did such utterances prevent or delay this Court from rendering its judgment on the petition,” she added.
With a vote of 8-6, the SC en banc on May 11 nullified Sereno’s appointment as chief magistrate, citing what it said was her lack of integrity when she did not file her complete Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, among others.