EMBATTLED Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said Tuesday she will not budge from her stand following the calls for her resignation.
She faces the specter of being ousted by her colleagues at the Supreme Court who are expected to decide soon on the quo warranto petition filed against her by the Office of the Solicitor General.
But Sereno said she will not step down and vowed to defend herself.
“That resignation [call] is nonsense; that’s only for the coward,” Sereno told reporters at a forum on women at the Adamson University in Manila. “Our nation needs heroes”•-not just one but millions of heroes. That’s what we need now; that’s what the present time calls for.”
Sereno said judicial independence and the freedom of the people would be threatened should her fellow justices vote to oust her on May 11.
“Dictatorship will win and will prevail in the country if the quo warranto petition wins and judicial independence will be dead,” Sereno said.
She made the statement after the Officers of the Philippine Judges Association and Supreme Court Employees Association reiterated their call for her to step down during the flag-raising ceremony at the Supreme Court grounds on Monday.
They said Sereno would be doing the judiciary a favor by resigning, which they said would “give the entire judiciary the opportunity to move forward and get back to order.”
Members of the Citizens’ Crime Watch led by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio also demanded Sereno’s resignation before the Court rulessx on the quo warranto case for her own benefit.
The group said should she opt to resign, Sereno would get to keep her title and the honor of being a chief justice in the court records.
But Sereno remained steadfast in her resolve to fight despite the reports that the majority of her colleagues were inclined to vote to invalidate her appointment in 2012.
“We need to fight with all our strength. We should ignore those calls for us to retreat and resign,” Sereno said.
Supreme Court insiders say at least nine justices want Sereno ousted, three are against and two are ambivalent about the issue.
When asked about her next move, Sereno said she would rather heed the call of her supporters and continue serving the people.
“I am only serving the people. I am listening and thinking about it,” Sereno said.
“Now that you have heard their clamor, the people are telling me that it is time that I go back to the Supreme Court to continue working there.”