SC kicks out Sereno for good

The Supreme Court (SC) en banc voted 8-6 yesterday to deny with finality the quixotic quest of Maria Lourdes Sereno for reversal of her ouster as SC chief justice.

In denying Sereno’s motion for reconsideration, the SC affirmed its original decision on May 11, also by a vote of 8-6, favoring the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Oscar Calida against Sereno.

The High Court also set June 19 as the start of the 90-day period in which the post vacated by Sereno, now being held by acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, should be filled.

The quo warranto petition accused Sereno of failing to file her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as a professor of the University of the Philippines.

Failing to comply with the SALN law, Sereno was unfit to serve as an associate justice and later on as chief justice, according to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) complaint, the first to be filed against an impeachable official.

Sereno’s predecessor, Renato Corona, was also ousted but via an impeachment trial. The SC decision, according to House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, mooted the impeachment complaint against Sereno.

Breaking the news early in the day, presidential spokesman Harry Roque told reporters the President respects the decision of the SC, it being the final arbiter on legal matters.

“So, like it or hate it, we have to submit to the decision of the SC. That is now a final and executory decision. Tapos na po ang pagiging Chief Justice ni Sereno (Sereno’s stint as CJ is finished),” Roque said. Sereno is also facing possible sanctions from the SC over statements she made during the pendency of the quo warranto petition, including those that allegedly cast aspersions on some of the associate justices who voted against her.

The justices who voted against Sereno in both decisions were Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Samuel Martires, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes and Alexander Gesmundo.

The six who voted against the quo warranto petition were Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.

Carpio had said while he believed Sereno should be made accountable for not dutifully filing her SALNs, among the other complaints against her, quo warranto was not the proper course of action to remove her from office.

Oral arguments were held on the case against Sereno last April 10.

“The SC has spoken. It has affirmed its ruling on the quo warranto petition declaring void the appointment of Sereno. Let us respect its decision, no matter what our persuasions are,” Speaker Alvarez said.

As a consequence of the SC decision, the House of Representatives would now have to consign the impeachment complaint against Sereno to its archives, Alvarez added.

In reaction, a livid Sereno told her supporters gathered at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City House leaders held hostage the judiciary’s budget to force the SC to remove her.