MANILA – The Supreme Court dismissed on Tuesday the motion for reconsideration that Maria Lourdes Sereno filed against her removal as chief justice.
Sereno’s former colleagues voted 8-6 to reject the appeal for “lack of merit,” spokesperson Theodore Te said, adding that the high court will no longer entertain any more pleadings to reverse the verdict.
“Respondent has not presented any convincing ground that would merit a modification or reversal of our May 11, 2018 decision,” Te said as head the latest ruling.
In its May 11 decision the magistrates made the same votes to unseat Sereno as the country’s top magistrate, favoring a quo warranto petition alleging that her appointment was invalid.
Voting to dismiss Sereno’s motion were associate justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Andres Reyes Jr., Lucas Bersamin, Samuel Martires, Alexander Gesmundo, Noel Tijam, and Francis Jardeleza.
Favoring Sereno’s appeal were Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and associate justices Marvic Leonen, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perez-Bernabe, and Benjamin Alfredo Caguioa.
Associate Justice Tijam was the ponente of the verdict.
Sereno must be dismissed from service for lack of integrity and for failure to submit statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as required by law, the Supreme Court said.
“Respondent’s argument dangerously disregards that the filing of SALN is not only a requirement under the law but a positive duty required from every public officer or employee, first and foremost by the Constitution,” read the decision.
“This positive constitutional duty of filing one’s SALN is so sensitive and important that it even shares the same category as the constitutional duty imposed upon public officers and employees to owe allegiance to the state and Constitution.
“As such, offenses against the SALN laws are not ordinary offenses but violations of a duty which every public officer and employee owes to the state and the Constitution.
“In other words, violation of SALN laws, by itself, defeats any claim of integrity as it is inherently immoral to violate the will of the legislature and the to violate the Constitution.”
Sereno’s spokesman Atty. Jojo Lacanilao said they were expecting the verdict. He said the ousted chief justice will continue to serve as the “voice of the people.”
“We were not surprised by the final … decision but we remain convinced that the decision is unjust and will be questioned by the people for a long time to come,” Lacanilao said.
On May 11 her colleagues voted 8-6 to remove Sereno, favoring the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
Calida claimed Sereno failed to submit the required SALNs to the Judicial and Bar Council when she was appointed chief justice in 2012.
He said Sereno also failed to file her SALN during her time at the University of the Philippines College of Law.
In her appeal Sereno argued that the Supreme Court had no authority to remove from office an impeachable official like the chief justice.
Her failure to submit all the required SALNs could not be a basis for adjudging her lack of integrity and dishonesty, she said.
The decision, Sereno stressed, made baseless conclusions that are unsupported by evidence.
Moreover, the Supreme Court should not have favored the quo warranto plea because it already went beyond the one-year prescriptive period for its filing, she added.
According to Calida, the Supreme Court was “settling a legal controversy” and merely exercised its power. Moreover, he said, the high court already ruled that adherence to the filing of SALNs is related to a government worker’s integrity.
Sereno became the Philippines’ first female chief justice and, at 52, the second youngest to head the judiciary when she was appointed in 2012 by then President Benigno Aquino III to replace impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona./PN
