THE Integrated Bar of the Philippines on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to intervene and seek the dismissal of the quo warranto petition filed against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for being “fatally flawed.”
In a petition for intervention, the IBP’s board of governors asked the high court to allow it to formally oppose the quo warranto petition that assails the validity of Sereno’s appointment in 2012.
The group made its petition even as Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio on Friday showed he was able to submit all 10 required Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth when he applied to be chief justice in 2012.
Sereno claims that 14 of the applicants for chief justice in 2012, including Carpio, “failed to submit to the Judicial and Bar Council one or more of their SALNs.”
In seeking the dismissal of the quo warranto case filed by Solicitor IBP General Jose Calida against Sereno, the IBP raised several arguments why the high court should dump the petition”•including the lapsed prescriptive period for filing such case and the inevitability of encroaching into the separation of powers if the high court looks into Sereno’s alleged lack of integrity.
“The Quo Warranto Petition is fatally flawed because the allegations therein are clear that the JBC itself did not require the submission of respondent Chief Justice’s SALNs from 2001 to 2006,” the IBP’s pleading says.
“Therefore, there is no discernible intent of avoiding the constitutional requirement that would purportedly taint her integrity.”
Siding with the arguments of Sereno in seeking the dismissal of the quo warranto petition, the IBP says impeachment is the only way allowed by the Constitution to remove an impeachable official from office.
“The rule on impeachment rests on the fundamental principles of judicial independence and separation of powers,” the IBP said.
The group says the Judicial and Bar Council has the power to determine whether or not Sereno passed the test of “proven integrity.”
In asserting it has legal personality to intervene, the IBP said it “has the fundamental duty…to uphold the Constitution, advocate for the rule of law and safeguard the administration of justice.
“Quo warranto does not lie because what cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly.”
In the petition he filed on March 5, Calida asked the high court to reject Sereno’s appointment over her alleged ineligibility for the top judicial post and order her removal from office.
He said Sereno did not meet the specific qualification of proven integrity for the post of chief justice with her failure to comply with the required submission of 10-year SALNs.
In her answer, Sereno sought the dismissal of the petition and cited technical grounds.
She also argued that the high court had no jurisdiction and authority to remove her from office because the 1987 Constitution provides that she could only be ousted by impeachment in Congress as an impeachable official.