Sereno to fight charges with ‘honor, dignity, grace’
With “honor, dignity and grace” is how Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno vows to fight her accusers in her imminent Senate impeachment trial.
“I will not resign,” Sereno told GMA 7 News.
After formally filing yesterday her indefinite leave, the embattled Supreme Court chief rallied support from court employees.
“I want to give you the assurance that while I will be taking a leave of absence, the ship of state of the judiciary remains on course,” she told them in her keynote address at the 25th national convention of the Regional Trial Court Clerks of Court Association of the Philippines.
“It makes me proud to fight for you,” she said in her last public engagement before her leave which starts today.
Sereno urged court workers to concentrate on their jobs while she prepares for her battle in the Senate.
“I have said time and again: focus on your job. That and prayers are the best forms of support you can give me in this fight,” she said.
She made it clear she has no plans of resigning after taking an indefinite leave from office.
“I need to prepare to fight the accusations against me fairly and squarely,
with honor, dignity and grace,” she maintained.
Earlier in the day, Sereno formally filed her indefinite leave from the SC in a letter to Deputy Clerk of Court Anna-Li Papa Gombio.
She cited as reason the “demands of the Senate where I intend to fully set out my defenses to the baseless charges.”
Her spokesman earlier said it was a “wellness leave.”
“I will take an indefinite leave, until I shall have completed my preparation for the Senate trial, a portion of which will be charged against my wellness leave... originally from March 12 to 23, 2018, to March 1 to 15, 2018,” she explained.
At last Tuesday’s hearing on the impeachment case against Sereno, it was revealed that she declared only four of the six properties she shared with her husband in her SALNs.
Records presented to the justice committee by the Land Registration Authority (LRA) showed she may have concealed two conjugal assets – one each in Davao City and Bataan.
LRA administrator Renato Bermejo allowed his deputy Ronald Ortile to present before the committee titles to properties she shared with her husband Mario Jose. Based on record, the Serenos have two properties each in Rizal and Davao City, and one each in Cavite and Bataan.
“The Chief Justice’s properties in Bataan and Davao City were not reflected in her SALN,” Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. of party-list Ako Bicol said, to which Ortile agreed, adding that all the pertinent Register of Deeds documents are “now en route to Manila” where the main LRA head office is located.
Ortile disclosed that the Rizal properties were separately acquired in September 2005 and December 2011, the Cavite property in July 2003, Davao assets in July 1998 and the one in Bataan in August 1997.
Only 3 SALNs filed
The hearings conducted by the justice committee chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Rey Umali had established that Sereno filed her SALN only thrice and she had in fact failed to comply with the 10-year SALN requirement set by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for chief justice nominees.
Her predecessor, the late chief justice Renato Corona, was convicted by the Senate impeachment court in May 2012 for failing to declare in his SALN the $750,000 he was maintaining in accounts in a local bank.
For Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Sereno’s failure to comply with JBC requirements should be enough justification for Solicitor General Jose Calida to push through with a Supreme Court case questioning the validity of her appointment in 2012.
SC Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Diosdado Peralta told the Umali panel in previous hearings that Sereno’s appointment was null and void from the very start because she failed to submit her SALNs when she was applying to become chief justice.
Alvarez explained that if the tribunal rules to declare Sereno’s appointment as invalid, then the impeachment proceedings at the House would already be rendered moot “because there is nobody to impeach in the first place.”
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said Sereno should resign instead of just taking a leave of absence.
“We call on your person and as a professional, please resign,” Manuelito Luna said at a press briefing.
“I hope she realizes deep in her heart that what’s important is public interest more than her personal interest,” said Luna.
“We want to save her from further humiliation,” he added, noting that some SC employees have lost confidence in Sereno.
Luna also said they welcome media reports of Calida planning to file a petition for quo warranto against Sereno.
According to Luna, a quo warranto proceeding is a quicker way to remove Sereno as it could only take three to six months, unlike an impeachment proceeding which can last from six months to a year.
“The institution can no longer take more beatings and more criticisms that tend to undermine the integrity of the judiciary,” he said.