MANILA – The five Supreme Court magistrates whom on-leave Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno tagged as “biased” did not inhibit from hearing the quo warranto petition filed against her.
Associate justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, and Teresita Leonardo de Castro refuse to heed Sereno’s call for them to inhibit, Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said.
“All the motions for inhibition were denied for lack of merit,” Carpio said in a statement before the start of the oral arguments on the quo warranto petition in an en banc session in Baguio City on Tuesday.
The five magistrates will explain themselves when they issue their respective motions, Carpio added.
In separate motions last week, Sereno called on the five associate justices to pull themselves out of the hearings on the petition, citing their “bias” against her.
Questioning the validity of Sereno’s appointment, Solicitor General Jose Calida initiated the quo warranto petition, which calls for a proceeding to remove an unqualified official from their position.
Sereno claimed Peralta, Bersamin, Jardeleza, and de Castro showed bias against her when they testified at the House of Representatives’ hearings on the impeachment complaint she was facing.
Tijam’s bias, meanwhile, showed in a quote on a newspaper report, the chief justice asserted./PN
