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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday, March 4, 2018
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MANILA – The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) criticized attempts to remove Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno while it has yet to be determined if there is probable cause to impeach her.
Any “artifice or device” to “short-circuit” the process to remove Sereno from her post should be “slain on sight,” IBP president Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo said in a statement.
“We express firm belief that conviction after an impeachment trial is the only constitutionally recognized mode by which to remove a sitting chief justice,” Fajardo said. “The Constitution reigns supreme over all other rules.”
“Any artifice or device intended to solely target the chief justice and short-circuit the process would be repugnant to the Constitution, and must be slain on sight if our democratic processes are to be observed,” he said.
Sereno took an indefinite leave starting March 1 to prepare for a possible impeachment trial in Senate.
Thirteen Supreme Court magistrates, during deliberations last Tuesday, have “arrived at a consensus” that the chief justice should take the indefinite leave, the high court had said.
The IBP insists on due process for Sereno through impeachment proceedings, Fajardo said.
“The bedrock of judicial independence is meant to shield judges from the political elements that may have played a role in their appointment to the bench,” Fajardo said.
He added: “The Supreme Court itself has repeatedly emphasized our Constitution’s built-in bias toward a fearless and an incorruptible judiciary that is prepared to follow the law and to administer it regardless of consequences.
“We breathe life into this prized democratic value by according the chief justice due process of law in accordance with the rules governing the difficult process of impeachment.”
Sereno is the second chief justice to face impeachment. In 2012 Renato Corona was impeached for alleged misdeclarations in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.
The House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice is set to vote on March 7 on the existence of probable cause to impeach Sereno./PN
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