Who’s next?

This was a common question yesterday after the Supreme Court, to no one’s surprise, affirmed its ruling ousting Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice on the strength of a quo warranto petition filed by the government’s chief lawyer.

Senators called it a “slippery slope” after one of the handful of public officials specified for removal through impeachment under the Constitution was ousted by her colleagues through a simple petition filed by the solicitor general. With uncharacteristic speed in a tribunal notorious for snail-paced adjudication, the Supreme Court kicked out the fourth official in the constitutional line of succession. And with equally uncharacteristic speed, the SC affirmed its own ruling.

The House of Representatives, which has the sole power to impeach under the Constitution, was a willing partner in the SC ruling. After abdicating its constitutional mandate, this House will have no one but itself to blame if one day the SC does a repeat performance and the result is not to the liking of the chamber’s majority. Now even SC members, all of them impeachable officials, are vulnerable. One opinion that displeases the executive could cost them their seat in the tribunal.

That is another concern in this SC decision: the executive, through the solicitor general, is now deemed to have a tool for exerting control over the nation’s highest court. Through a mere quo warranto petition, the executive can also seek the replacement pronto of the ombudsman as well as the heads of the constitutional commissions on election, audit and civil service.

Those behind this ruling deny that the executive had a hand in Sereno’s ouster, which occurred shortly after President Duterte declared her as his enemy. One way of bolstering this argument is for those responsible, including the eight SC members who voted against Sereno, to es chew any appointment by the President to another government position. Any such appointment will inevitably be seen as a reward for a decision that critics say is a constitutional violation that warrants impeachment.

Congress can do its part by passing a law that prohibits SC members from accepting an appointment from the incumbent president to any government position even after the magistrate’s retirement. This will help in promoting the independence of each SC justice from Malacañang and its chief lawyer.