MANILA – The Supreme Court will rule with finality this month the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice through a quo warranto petition of the Office of Solicitor General.
Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said they will vote on the motion for reconsideration filed by Sereno tentatively on June 19 during the high court’s en banc session.
“We will decide with finality because we want to move on also,” Carpio told reporters. “The Supreme Court decides and we just must follow. We are governed by the rule of the majority, that’s how our democracy works.”
Carpio added, “You win, you lose…Whether it’s correct or wrong, we just have to accept it because that’s how we can move on. We have to accept the ruling because that’s the decision of the majority.”
In an 8-6 vote on May 11, the SC justices granted the quo warranto petition against Sereno. Most of the SC magistrates believe Sereno’s appointment as chief justice was void from the start because of her failure to file her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
Associate Justice Tijam, who penned the decision, said Sereno was ousted for her failure to submit the required SALNs to the Judicial and Bar Council in 2012.
Sereno argued in her appeal that the high court violated the Constitution because she can only be removed through impeachment.
She added that the issue on her failure to submit all the required SALNs is not a basis for adjudging her of lack of integrity and dishonesty.
She also claimed that the decision made baseless conclusions that are unsupported by evidence, such as alleged tax fraud, which allegedly lacks evidentiary support.
On technical grounds, Sereno insisted that the quo warranto petition should not have been granted because it already went beyond the one-year prescription period from appointment./PN