No ‘black protest’ in SC for Sereno

When the late former chief justice Renato Corona was facing impeachment proceedings in Congress in 2012, employees of the Supreme Court staged “Black Monday” protests and rallied behind him.

SC employees even took time from their lunch breaks to march along Padre Faura street in black shirts and black armbands and even covered the bronze statues of former chief justices Cayetano Arellano and Jose Abad Santos with black cloths to protest what they said was “death of democracy.”

This time, it’s Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno who faces impeachment – but without similar support from court employees.

An insider revealed to The STAR that the Supreme Court Employees Association (SCEA) and other employees’ groups in appellate and lower courts have no plans to back Sereno.

“It was during her time when our allowances were cut significantly. She’s no CJ Corona, who would go out of his way to talk to the smallest employees in the court and check on their concerns,” the insider bared.

Two impeachment complaints have been filed against Sereno before the House of Representatives.

The complaints have been endorsed by 41 members of the House. The House committee on justice is set to start hearing the complaints tomorrow.

Sereno is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust over alleged undisclosed assets in her statement of asset, liabilities and net worth and extravagant spending of judicial funds by purchasing a P5-million Toyota Land Cruiser and traveling on first-class flights.

Sereno has issued a general denial on the allegations in the complaints.