“There is no reason for the eight justices who voted against Sereno to decline candidacies

Opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman wants the eight Supreme Court justices who voted against Lourdes Sereno, whose appointment as the Chief Justice was declared void, to decline their nominations for the top SC post.

This recent move of Lagman is apart from his and his yellow allies’ threat to file an impeachment complaint against these SC justices who voted to grant the quo warranto petition against her.

“The Justices who voted for the ouster of Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno in the quo warranto petition must decline their respective nominations for the vacant post of Chief Magistrate,” Lagman said in a statement.

“They must not profit from their controversial adverse decision against Sereno,” he added.

What moral authority does Lagman, along with his claimed “Magnificent Seven” members who have done nothing but oppose (and not constructively either), and never objected under the yellow regime when they were in power and position despite the many scandals and corruption that marked the unlamented yellow regime.

This is clearly yet another publicity stunt from the opposition that has the nerve to call itself the “Magnificent Seven” even when there is nothing magnificent in what they do in the House except to gain the yellow media’s spotlight.

The threat of an impeachment complaint against the eight justices won’t get anywhere, first because this isn’t even going to fly in the House justice committee. Second, Lagman’s call for the eight justices who voted to oust Sereno to decline their nominations is also useless, since even as the rule says the senior justices in the High Court are automatically included by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), too many of these eight justices who had voted against Sereno are due for compulsory retirement.

Take the case of SC Justice Presbitero Velasco, who is due to retire in less than two months, or on August 8 this year. The JBC has already opened its doors to applicants to fill Velasco’s seat.

Justice Teresita de Castro is retiring this year, on October 8.

Justice Diosdado Peralta, who voted for the quo warranto case, retires by March 2022 while Justice Lucas Bersamin retires on Oct. 18, 2019.

Justice Mariano del Castillo retires on July 2, 2019.

Acting Justice Antonio Carpio, who is the most senior, has already said he is rejecting any appointment for him as the next CJ. He could, of course, change his mind, but he had already stated he won’t accept the appointment as he does not want to be seen as having profited from the Sereno ouster.

Velasco is out of the running. So is Teresita de Castro since she also retires this year.

Next comes Justice Peralta, who is still set to retire in 2022, He voted against Sereno. Justice Bersamin is to retire next year.

Justice Bernabe has a few more years as she retires in May, 2022.

Of course, two yellow justices follow, in the persons in Marvic Leonen and Benjamin Caguioa, and it is fairly certain they would get the yellow nod of Lagman and his yellow allies but won’t likely get the nod of President Duterte.

In between is Justice Jardeleza, who retires in 2019.

The eight Supreme Court justices who voted to grant the quo warranto petition are Justices de Castro, Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Samuel Martires, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr. and Alexander Gesmundo.

Martires, who retires by January 2019, wants an early retirement as he is eyeing the Ombudsman position.

Justice Tijam retires by January 2019. Justice Reyes retires in May 2020.

Three of them — De Castro, Peralta and Bersamin — are expected to be automatically nominated for the post for being senior justices of the court.

Lagman stressed those justices who will face impeachment complaints should be disqualified from nomination or appointment as Chief Justice.

“The impeachment complaints are akin to pending administrative and/or criminal cases which bar appointment in the judiciary,” he said.

Yellow ally Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin naturally went along with Lagman.

These oppositionists certainly know there is no such impeachment complaint, but they use this threat to have all these appointees of President Duterte cancelled out as the next CJ.

“They should be ashamed of themselves! This time inhibiting themselves from applying for the Chief Justice post is common sense and basic decency,” he said.

There is no reason for the eight justices who voted against Sereno to decline candidacies on the JBC list.

It is Lagman and the yellow company who should be ashamed of themselves for thinking they have the moral authority to demand the SC justices decline their nominations.

It’s Rody who makes the decision — and his decision won’t be for Leonen or Caguiao either.