MANILA -- Voting 8-6, the Supreme Court (SC) sitting en banc on
Friday granted the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida
seeking to nullify the appointment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
This was announced by SC Spokesman Theodore Te in a press briefing
after the High Court's special en banc session.
Sereno is the first Chief Justice to be removed from office through quo
warranto proceedings.
"The petition for quo warranto is granted, respondent Maria
Lourdes P.A. Sereno is found disqualified from and is hereby adjudged guilty of
unlawfully holding and exercising the office of the Chief Justice. Accordingly,
respondent Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno is ousted and excluded therefrom,"
the court decision read by Te said.
Those who voted to grant the quo warranto petition against Sereno were
Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas
Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Samuel Martires, Andres Reyes Jr., Alexander
Gesmundo, and Noel Tijam who penned the Court's decision.
Meanwhile, those who dissented were Senior Associate Justice Antonio
Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Mariano Del Castillo, Estela
Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.
The High Court also announced that the position of the Chief Justice is
declared vacant and that the Judicial and Bar Council should begin the
application and nomination process for Sereno's replacement.
"The decision is immediately executory without need of further
action from the Court," the decision said.
Sereno's spokesperson lawyer Carlo Cruz said last Wednesday that they
would file a motion for reconsideration once the court rules in favor of the
petition.
Calida filed the quo warranto petition seeking the nullification of
Sereno’s appointment as Chief Justice over her alleged failure to file her
Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) for several years from
1986 to 2006 when she was a professor at the UP College of Law.
It was found out that aside from her SALNs for the years 2006, 2009,
2010, and 2011, which she submitted in her applications for Associate Justice
and Chief Justice, Sereno only filed SALNs for the years 1998, 2002, and 2006
during her tenure as law professor at the UP College of Law from 1986 up to
2006.
Sereno earlier insisted that the SC has no jurisdiction to hear and
resolve the quo warranto petition since she can only be removed through
impeachment proceedings conducted by the Senate sitting as an impeachment
court. (By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan /PNA)
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