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Friday, March 29, 2024

Sereno camp all set to face impeachment trial–lawyer

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THE camp of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Sunday said she is ready to face an impeachment trial before the Senate as preparations for her defense is almost completed.

Sereno’s spokesperson Jojo Lacanilao said her defense team almost finished their preparation for the forthcoming impeachment trial.

“At this point, we think we are ready for impeachment hearing before the Senate. Anytime, we are ready to answer their allegations,” Sereno’s spokesperson, Jojo Lacanilao, told radio dzMM.

Lacanilao also reiterated that Sereno has nothing to hide and that they would be able to prove during the trial that all the allegations hurled against her in the complaint have no basis.

“CJ Sereno is not hiding anything and she did not commit any impeachable offense so if the senator-judges will be fair, I’m sure they will be able to see what really happened,” he said.

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Aside from impeachment, Sereno also faces removal from her post through a quo warranto petition before the Supreme Court filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida questioning the validity of her appointment to the SC top post.

Calida said Sereno committed a gross misrepresentation before the Judicial and Bar Council when she explained that, the reason for her non-submission of SALNs was that she could no longer retrieve all her SALNs when as shown by the Certifications from the UP and the Ombudsman, she did not actually file her SALNs for the years 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

He said Sereno would not have been included in the JBC shortlist if she disclosed to the body that she failed to file her SALNs 11 times during her tenure as a professor at UP.

Sereno had asked the Court to dismiss the petition on technical grounds, particularly for lack of jurisdiction and violation of the one-year prescription period for filing such a case.

She also argued that the SC has no jurisdiction and authority to remove her from office because the Constitution provides that she can only be ousted by impeachment in Congress as an impeachable official.

Sereno was appointed to the post in 2012 after the ouster of  then Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was found guilty by the Senate impeachment court of misdeclaring his wealth.

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