Sereno ready for impeachment trial at Senate — spokesman

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is ready for her impeachment trial in the Senate, one of her spokespersons said yesterday.

Lawyer Jojo Lacanilao said they are now finalizing preparations for the defense in the impeachment trial.

“We are almost done preparing our defense. Anytime we are prepared to answer the allegations. We will just update it if there are new information that might come up,” Lacanilao revealed in a radio interview.

Lacanilao stressed that the Chief Justice is confident in facing trial before the Senate because she has nothing to hide.

He believes they would be able to prove during the trial that all allegations raised in the complaint and the articles of impeachment prepared by the House justice committee have no basis.

“CJ Sereno is really not hiding anything and she did not commit any impeachable offense so if the senator-judges will be fair, I’m sure they will be able to see what really happened,” he explained.

The House justice committee has approved the articles of impeachment for deliberations of the plenary and the official impeachment of Sereno.

But while facing impeachment proceedings in Congress, Sereno is also facing an ouster petition before the Supreme Court filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida last month.

Calida’s quo warranto petition cited Sereno’s failure to meet the 10-year statement of assets, liabilities and net worth for her appointment as chief justice in 2012.

Sereno is accused of committing a gross misrepresentation before the Judicial and Bar Council when she explained that the reason for her nonsubmission of SALNs was that she could no longer retrieve all of them. Certifications from University of the Philippines and the Ombudsman, however, show she did not actually file her SALNs for the years 1986,1987,1988, 1989, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

He said Sereno would not have been included in the JBC shortlist if she disclosed to the body that she failed to file her SALNs eleven times during her tenure as a professor at the UP College of Law.

The Chief Justice, currently on indefinite leave, had asked the SC to dismiss Calida’s petition on technical ground, particularly for lack of jurisdiction and violation of the one-year prescription period for filing such case.

She argued that the SC has no jurisdiction and authority to remove her from office because the 1987 Constitution provides that as an impeachable official, she could only be ousted through impeachment trial in the Senate.