‘TAKE THE TIME TO REVIEW’

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III asserts the Upper House’s exclusive authority to sit as an impeachment court and remove impeachable officers if there’s enough evidence to convict; he calls on the Supreme Court to review “this controversial decision

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III urged the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday to review its decision to remove Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, in an assertion of the Senate’s authority as “the one and only impeachment court.”

Pimentel issued the statement a few hours after the SC, voting 8-6, upheld the quo warranto petition that Solicitor-General Jose Calida had filed. In an unprecedented case, Calida asked the SC to declare Sereno ineligible to be chief justice, without waiting for Congress to proceed with her impeachment trial.

The SC majority set its tone on the first page of the 153-page decision.

“No one is above the law and the Constitution, not even a Chief Justice who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and obey the laws of the land,” the majority said.

Two prominent lawyers in Cebu gave mixed reactions on the chief justice’s removal, and a group of human rights advocates urged the senate “to act decisively and correct the wrong committed by the Supreme Court.”

Lawyer Mundlyn Misal-Martin, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu Chapter, said she was surprised by the decision and that it was “something that I look forward to reading and learning from.”

“At any rate, I have high respect for the members of the Highest Court of this country and they are intellectually capable to decide on matters raised to them. With that, I believe that they have the basis to do it. And I personally respect that,” said Martin.

Lawyer Elaine Mae Bathan voiced concern, pointing out the rules were very clear on the impartiality of judges and that quo warranto proceedings could be applied only within one year of the action being questioned.

“It is sad and somewhat disheartening to know that eight of the justices of the Supreme Court have decided to turn a blind eye to these very clear provisions of the law. The only way by which a Chief Justice can be ousted is through an impeachment proceeding,” said Bathan. She is a past governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Eastern Visayas.

Using a quo warranto petition, instead of proceeding with an impeachment trial in the Senate, railroaded the process and was done “in utter disregard of the legal and due process,” said Bathan.

Credibility

“If the Chief Justice has been denied of this basic precept that is supposed to be embedded in a democratic process, where justice is to be based on the rule of law, how then can we protect an ordinary litigant who seeks redress before the highest court?” she added.

In a statement, Cebu for Human Rights said: “Today, the Supreme Court lost its credibility. The justices who ruled in favor of quo warranto no longer have the moral ascendancy over the lower justices and judges. All their decisions will be suspect.”

“To correct this wrong, we urge the Senate, as the body mandated in the Constitution in impeachment proceedings, to question the Supreme Court ruling. We ask the duly elected Senators to act decisively and correct the wrong committed by the Supreme Court. We also ask the Supreme Court justices to reconsider their decision to prevent this constitutional crisis,” the group added.

Last March, the House of Representatives justice committee voted on the impeachment complaint against the chief justice. That same month, the solicitor-general filed the quo warranto petition, citing Sereno’s failure to regularly file her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) as a civil servant. Ten years’ worth of SALNs were missing when she applied for the chief justice’s position in 2012. She was appointed later that year.

Eight justices voted yesterday to grant the petition and remove the chief justice. The SC’s decision is “immediately executory without the need of further action from the court.”

One and only impeachment court

Her lawyers have said that Sereno will file a motion for reconsideration. She has 15 days to do so.

Senate President Pimentel said that Chief Justice Sereno should be given that opportunity.

“The people must be given time to review this decision. And the Supreme Court itself must also take the time to review its own decision,” he also said. He emphasized that in impeachment, the SC cannot be supreme “because the Senate is the one and only impeachment court” and the only way to remove the Chief Justice is for the House to impeach her and for the Senate to convict.

Sereno’s predecessor, the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, was impeached over a discrepancy in his SALN—a few millions in dollar accounts in that he had failed to declare—but he went through an impeachment trial in the Senate.