THE Supreme Court decision ousting Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno should not be enforced yet because she still had the option to file an appeal, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said Friday.
IBP vice chairman Domingo Cayosa said he could not understand why the high court seemed to be in a hurry to decide on the quo warranto plea against Sereno by the Office of the Solicitor General.
“Sa tingin namin, walang reason to rush the voting. Hindi ho ba kasi kung ang pakay natin dito ay public accountability, mayroon namang impeachment sa Kongreso. Bakit nila inuunahan?” Cayosa said.
“Eh ngayon biglang sasabihin nila immediately executory. So may hint of gusto nila kaagad permanent o maaksyunan kaagad.”
Said IBP president Abdiel Dan Elijah S. Fajardo: “We are awaiting official receipt of the decision of the Supreme Court in Republic vs. Sereno, with an eye towards seeking its reconsideration or reversal. This is pursuant to our position that only the Senate, assembled as an impeachment court, has the power to dismiss an incumbent Justice of the Supreme Court on questions pertaining to his or her alleged lack of integrity.”
In a briefing Friday, high court spokesman Theodor Te said the decision ousting Sereno was immediately executory.
But Cayosa insisted that Sereno had 15 days to file a motion for reconsideration, and only after it had been resolved could the ruling be deemed final.
He said the IBP itself would be filing its own motion for reconsideration in the hope of convincing even at least two pro-oust justices to reverse their vote. In its deliberations, eight justice voted to grant the quo warranto plea while six voted against it.
“Kung pag-iisipan baka maaring ma-convince ang dalawa sa kanila o higit pa na mag-iba ang kanilang desisyon,” Cayosa said.
“Panahon na rin para igiit ng tao ang delikadesa at pag-inhibit-in ang ilang members of the SC na nagtestigo at nagpahayag na ng kanilang paniwala at posisyon na dapat matanggal at ma-dismiss si CJ bago pa dumating sa kanila.”
Cayosa criticized the high court justices who voted to oust Sereno despite being asked to inhibit from the case after supposedly displaying “bias” and “impartiality” by testifying in the impeachment case against the chief justice before the House of Representatives.
“Basic logic na hindi puwedeng maghusga ang taong nag-aakusa o ang taong mayroon nang dating desisyon,”Cayosa said.
“That’s a fundamental rule of fair play.”