“The yellow effort obviously has Rody again as the ultimate target.

The yellow mob is trying to conjure a political crisis through its House minions to derail the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) process and complete a shortlist for the Chief Justice post vacated by the ousted Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Sereno was booted out 11 May when the Supreme Court (SC) voted 8-6 to grant a quo warranto petition against her and the decision was made final on 19 June that gives President Rody Duterte until 19 September to name a new Chief Justice based on the list that the JBC will submit.

The Constitution requires that the top post in the High Court be filled up within 90 days after it was vacated.

On Thursday, yellow House members filed impeachment complaints against seven SC justices who ousted Sereno. They are Associate Justices Noel Tijam, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Andres Reyes Jr., Alexander Gesmundo, Lucas Bersamin, Diosdado Peralta and Francis Jardeleza.

De Castro, Bersamin, Peralta and Reyes are among nominees to the JBC list for Sereno’s replacement.

Yellow sentinels Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat and Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin filed the impeachment complaints before the Office of the Secretary General at the House of Representatives.

Lagman admitted that the targets are the four justices gunning for the top judiciary post.

At the least, the apparent goal is to exclude the four justices from the shortlist as a yellow gimmick and the maximum target is for a constitutional crisis if Rody rejects names that the JBC will submit.

The House is expected to reject the impeachment complaints outright but Lagman said the integrity of the four justices would have been questioned.

“The apparent goal is to exclude the four justices from the shortlist.

“The impeachment complaints will frustrate the aspiration of the concerned justices for nomination and/or appointment to the vacant position of Chief Justice because an impeachment complaint is akin to or even more serious than an administrative case whose pendency disqualifies applicants for position in the judiciary under the Revised Rules of the JBC,” Lagman said.

Asked to elucidate his claim, he said JBC rules require Chief Justice applicants to have “proven competence, integrity, probity and independence consistent with Section 7, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution.”

Lagman in his yellow-clouded argument said De Castro, Bersamin, Peralta and Reyes “succumbed to the importuning of President Rodrigo Duterte to remove Sereno.”

It was Solicitor General Jose Calida who filed the quo warranto challenge on Sereno for her failure to submit all the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth as a candidate for the post vacated by former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The quo warranto action is not even unprecedented as claimed by the yellow House bloc since it was a similar action that the Hilario Davide tribunal resorted to in justifying the ousting of former President Joseph Estrada when he was presumed lacking the qualification of the President.

Estrada was impeached but his trial at the Senate court was aborted. A yellow-contrived series of events led to EDSA 2 that ousted Estrada, after which then Chief Justice Davide cited “constructive resignation” for Estrada’s removal which was justified through the dismissal of a quo warranto petition Estrada filed against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Estrada tried to reclaim the presidency through the quo warranto petition against his successor.

The SC taking jurisdiction of the case became the precedent for Calida’s act, thus debunking the yellow House bloc’s claim that the High Court ruling to grant the quo warranto petition against Sereno was “not only errant but also malevolent.”

The yellow effort obviously has Rody again as the ultimate target since the yellow mob is blaming him for the ouster of their SC muse who would have been in the top SC post until 2030.

By creating an SC vacuum, the yellow mob can again turn to Rody as having coopted the judiciary and thus strengthen its claim of an authoritarian rule.

The yellow mob, however, has become so predictable in its moves that Rody said he is having the time of his life making them play into his hands.