EMBATTLED Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Monday accused President Rodrigo Duterte of being behind the move to oust her through a quo warranto petition filed before the Supreme Court.
“Mr. President, if you say that you have no hand in this, please explain why Solicitor General [Jose] Calida, who reports to you, filed the quo warranto petition,” Sereno said in Filipino at an event organized by the Movement Against Tyranny.
“Is that the way it is, President Duterte? That I should be removed either by quo warranto or impeachment?” the chief justice added.
The public would see that her imminent impeachment in Congress and the ouster petition before the Supreme Court had Duterte’s imprimatur.
“Filipinos are smart. They understand. You do not need to spell out the truth for them,” Sereno said. “It can’t be denied that there is an unseen hand behind this… The budget for this must be in the hundreds of millions. It could even run up to a billion.”
Sereno, who is on indefinite leave to prepare for her defense in the forthcoming impeachment trial before the Senate, also scored Calida for filing what she described as “absurd” petition and taking part in the “hypocrisy” of the quo warranto case.
“Surely you must explain this unconstitutional act,” she said. “What you’re doing is so evil.”
Sereno said she believed that the President wanted her out after she wrote a letter in August 2016 seeking due process for members of the judiciary that he accused of being involved in the illegal drug trade.
Sereno reiterated her view that the quo warranto case was a desperate measure to oust her because the impeachment case against her was weak.
She insisted she would not give in to such “bullying.”
“We are not destined to slavery but to freedom. What is evil, we denounce, what is good, we affirm,” she said.
Sereno also assailed her fellow justices in the Supreme Court whom she wanted to inhibit from the resolution of the quo warranto case for alleged biases.
Sereno specifically cited Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, whom she accused of having ill will against her.
Sereno recalled De Castro asking her not to accept the chief justice nomination in 2012 and later on telling her, “I will never forgive you for accepting the CJ-ship.”
Sereno has sought the inhibition of De Castro and four other justices—Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam—in the quo warranto case that the SC will hear in oral arguments today.
However, all five justices are expected to deny Sereno’s inhibition pleas against them.
For today’s oral arguments, the Court has required Sereno to personally appear to “testify under oath” and “verify under oath the truth and veracity of the allegations in the comment filed by counsels supposedly on her behalf.”
In the petition filed last month, Calida asked the Supreme Court to nullify the Sereno’s appointment over ineligibility for the top judicial post and order her removal from office as a de facto official whose authority was allegedly hinged on an appointment that was void from the start.
The solicitor general insisted that Sereno did not meet the specific qualification of proven integrity for the chief justice post with her failure to comply with the required submission of 10-year Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
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.
It was filed while Sereno is facing impeachment proceedings in Congress where the House justice committee has just approved the articles of impeachment for deliberations of the plenary and her official impeachment.
In her answer, the chief justice asked the SC to dismiss the petition on technical ground, particularly for lack of jurisdiction and violation of the one-year prescription period for filing such case.
Sereno argued that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction and authority to remove her from office because the 1987 Constitution provides that she could only be ousted by impeachment in Congress.