Sereno to run for senator?

IS Chief Justice on leave Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno eyeing a Senate run if ousted from her post?

Judiciary sources told The Manila Times they had received information that Sereno’s next move would be to run for the Senate.

The sources noted that the quo warranto petition of the Office of the Solicitor General, which questioned her qualification for office, was poised to win before the high court and that she could be out of office by Friday.

According to unimpeachable sources, at least a majority of the Supreme Court justices were of the position that Sereno’s hold on the post of chief justice was void from the beginning for her alleged failure to file a complete set of statements of assets liabilities and net worth (SALN) when she applied for the post.

Sources told The Times there would be “elbow room” as more than a majority of the 14 voting justices, or eight to 11 justices, would vote to grant the petition for quo warranto and concur in the draft ponencia or ruling of Associate Justice Noel Tijam.

“Wherefore, the Petition for Quo Warranto is Granted. Respondent Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno is found Disqualified from and is hereby adjuged Guilty of Unlawfully Holding and Exercising the Office of the Chief Justice. Accordingly, Respondent Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno is Ousted and Excluded therefrom,” the draft decision states, as quoted by a source.

Sereno on Tuesday spoke at the “Women on Fire” forum, before teachers and students of the Adamson University in Manila to again lash out at the quo warranto petition and insist that she could only be removed through impeachment. Sereno, in an ambush interview, was asked if she intended to run for the Senate next year, and she left open the possibility: “Wala pa ho akong mga planong ganoon (I don’t have such plans yet).”

She warned against a “looming dictatorship” and the “death of judicial independence” if the Supreme Court rules in favor of a quo warranto petition.

“Dictatorship will prevail if the quo warranto petition wins. It will be the death of juidicial independence,” she said in the forum, sponsored by the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).

In an attempt at levity, the chief justice on leave gathered people from the audience, including Manila Auxiliary Archbishop Broderick Pabillo, to role-play her situation when a student asked what the quo warranto was all about.

The mini-drama came with a warning: “The most frightening and horrifying dream is what is at stake: our democracy.”

Sereno is facing impeachment for alleged corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

The Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives has found probable cause to impeach Sereno. The plenary will vote to determine whether to affirm the committee recommendation when session resumes next week.

If impeached, Sereno will face the Senate, which will sit as an impeachment court, for her trial.