Oral debates on ouster petition vs Sereno set on Tuesday

MANILA, Philippines — Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is set to face her colleagues and argue against the petition seeking the nullification of her appointment as head of the judiciary on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court, headed by Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, will hold oral debates on Solicitor General Jose Calida’s quo warranto petition on April 10, 2:00 p.m. at the SC Session Hall in Baguio City. A quo warrant petition questions the right or authority of an official to exercise the power of and occupy a government office.

This is the first time that Sereno will personally address allegations against her, as the chief justice did not attend any of the impeachment hearings held at the House of Representatives. She instead sent her lawyers. whom the House justice committee did not allow to participate in the proceedings. 

Sereno has been on leave as chief justice since March 1. She said that she opted to step aside to prepare for a potential impeachment trial at the Senate.

She has repeatedly said she hopes to get a fair trial at the Senate.

Calida’s petition for quo warranto

The solicitor general is seeking the nullification of Sereno’s appointment as chief justice.

He said that Sereno failed to meet the Judicial and Bar Council’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) requirement when she submitted only three SALNs in 2012.

According to Calida, Sereno failed the “integrity test” for the chief justice position. He said: “By submitting SALNs less than those required by the JBC of other applications for chief justice, and without lawful justification for her non-compliance, [Sereno] was unable to prove her integrity.”

The chief government counsel also said that a quo warranto proceeding is “proper remedy” for Sereno’s case. He insisted that the petition runs on a different “ground” than the pending impeachment case against her.

Under Section 11, Rule 66 of the Rules of Court, a quo warranto petition can be filed “within one year of the cause of such ouster.”

Sereno's answer

Sereno, through lawyer Alex Poblador, said that under the 1987 Constitution, a chief justice can only be ousted through impeachment.

READ: Sereno asks SC to junk quo warranto plea for lack of merit

The impeachment case filed by lawyer Larry Gadon has been brought to House floor for voting. The House of Representatives’ justice panel said that the chief justice can be indicted on six charges.

The chief justice also argued the JBC relaxed its SALN requirement for all the applicants for the chief justice position, including Carpio and Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro.

Sereno added that her camp has recovered some of her supposedly missing SALNs and they plan to present them to the Senate.

An advisory from the SC, however, said that Sereno filed an “unverified” comment on Calida’s ouster petition. It said that the conduct of oral arguments will give the chief justice “a final opportunity to answer specific questions, under oath, needed for the judicious resolution of the instant case.”

How the SC will hold the debate

Petitioner Calida and respondent Sereno will each have 20 minutes to give their opening statements before the justices’ interpellation will start.

The SC said that the parties can limit their presentations in the oral arguments to the issues of:

• jurisdiction
• petition’s outright dismissal on grounds of prescription
• grant of relief or prayer, cited in the petition
• submission of SALNs and whether failure to file “will invalidate” the appointment, alleged falsehood of Sereno’s filed certification
• JBC’s determination of political integrity “beyond” SC’s judicial review
• whether JBC acted with grave abuse of discretion when it included Sereno in its shortlist

The SC en banc, in its April 3 session, also required Sereno to "testify under oath." It added that her non-appearance before the 14-member court will cancel the oral debates.

In an earlier advisory, the SC said that Sereno’s appearance will also recognize the jurisdiction of the court over her ouster, a point that her team has questioned.

The high court, on Friday afternoon, issued an “amended” advisory where the phrase stating that the embattled chief justice is “required” to “testify under oath” to “expressly acknowledge” its jurisdiction over the quo waranto petition was deleted.

Motion for inhibition

Accusing them of bias, the chief magistrate also sought the inhibition of five of her colleagues.

She asked Associate Justices Teresita De Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam to recuse from deliberating on the case.

Sereno said that given the magistrates’ testimonies during the impeachment proceedings at the House, she believes that they “cannot decide the quo warranto petition objectively and impartially.”

READ: Sereno asks 4 justices to recuse from ouster petition against her

The SC en banc has yet to resolve the five separate motions for inhibition filed by Sereno late last week.

The high court has also yet to issue a ruling on the Petition for Intervention, with a prayer of dismissal, filed by Senators Leila De Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV.