Sereno welcome to join Liberal Party Senate slate – Pangilinan

MANILA, Philippines — Former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is welcome to join the senatorial slate of the Liberal Party (LP)-led political opposition if she decides to run for senator in next year’s midterm elections.

LP president Sen. Francis Pangilinan said yesterday he has not spoken with Sereno about this but noted “she would be a good candidate.”

Members of the House opposition also urged Sereno to run for the Senate so she can continue to push for her advocacies.

“We need strong women in our ticket,” Pangilinan said, adding the opposition is continuously looking to strengthen its lineup for next year’s elections.

“We are open to whoever is interested (to join us). What is clear is our basis of unity: we are against EJK (extrajudicial killings), the policy of appeasement in the West Philippine Sea and of course corruption and other abuses,” he added. 

Pangilinan said Sereno would be a strong addition to the opposition if she is willing to help lead them in the years ahead. 

“We welcome all efforts at uniting the opposition so that we have a strong pushback in defending and upholding our democratic rights,” he said.

Pangilinan urged Sereno to file a second appeal before the Supreme Court, which junked her motion for reconsideration on the tribunal’s decision to oust her through a quo warranto case. 

So far, Pangilinan said the LP has only six candidates for the 2019 elections. 

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV leads the list, which also has Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, former Akbayan party-list congressman Barry Gutierrez, De La Salle University college of law founding dean Jose Manuel Diokno and former Quezon congressman Lorenzo Tañada III. 

Pangilinan said they are still in discussions with actress Agot Isidro to join their slate. 

The youngest sister of former president Benigno Aquino III, actress, host and multimedia personality Kris also came up as a possible senatorial candidate recently, but Pangilinan said they have not yet talked to her about this.

Kris posted on social media recently that her contracts with different companies will not allow her to join politics next year.

Pangilinan said the name of former solicitor general Florin Hilbay has also been mentioned and they are “in the process of meeting with him and discussing this with him.” 

He said the opposition does not intend to push for a complete 12-member senatorial slate because they are focused more on quality than quantity.

Check and balance important

Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice and Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. of the LP said the opposition must muster all possible forces to provide check and balance in government.

Sereno has been saying she could only be removed by an impeachment process in Congress but the SC arrogated this power upon itself by ruling on the quo warranto petition.

Erice said Sereno’s advocacy, knowledge and commitment to uphold the rule of law “can be very beneficial to the cause of the opposition and eventually in the Senate.”

“The Senate needs someone like CJ Sereno,” Erice said, while Baguilat said the former chief justice “should carry on her fight for an independent judiciary.” 

“She owes that to her country. She needs a platform in another branch of government. I hope our party drafts her into the Senate resistance slate,” Baguilat said.

Baguilat said he and his partymates had hoped the SC would reverse its 8-6 ruling removing its chief justice.

“But I guess the SC affirmation on CJ Sereno’s ouster was expected. For as long as they are under siege, it’s difficult for the SC justices to decide independently and wisely,” he said.            

Another LP congressman, Tom Villarin of Akbayan, said Tuesday’s decision of the tribunal upholding Sereno’s ouster “was a fait accompli as we are dealing with a compromised Supreme Court that had its hands tied by mundane personal interests.”

“It was a done deal sealed by Malacañang, which now exercises omnipotent powers over the Supreme Court through the omnipresent quo warranto petition it can file against any SC justice and other impeachable officials,” Villarin said.

“It is a consequence of unabashed worship of dictatorial rule where dissent is quashed while still in the mind, never to be spoken. We are in the cusp of legal oblivion where power matters over pure reason,” Villarin added.

Bishops hit SC

Catholic bishops slammed the SC for standing firm in its decision to oust Sereno.

Bishops Broderick Pabillo of Manila, Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon and Ruperto Santos of Bataan all believed that the SC ruling has diminished democracy in the country.

Pabillo said the SC “destroyed itself” and has lost its credibility.

“This shows that the Supreme Court cannot be trusted. The appointees of this President will just be stooges. The SC has self-destructed,” Pabillo stressed.

Bastes, for his part, alleged that the high court has lost its independence with the ruling.

“We fear that the next chief justice and the whole Supreme Court have lost their independence as the third equal branch of our democratic government,” the prelate lamented. – With Edu Punay, Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Delon Porcalla