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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Thursday, March 8, 2018
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MANILA – Today the House of Representatives Committee on Justice will vote on the probable cause in the impeachment complaint filed against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Yesterday Sereno called on Filipinos to stand up against authoritarianism and threats to human rights.
Sereno is facing two ouster attempts – one from a lawyer and another from the Rodrigo Duterte administration.
It is the “end of the road” for the chief justice and she should step down from the position instead, House justice committee chairman Reynaldo Umali said yesterday.
“Wala na rin siya tatakbuhan (She has nowhere else to go),” Umali said in describing what awaits Sereno after 13 Supreme Court magistrates arrived at a consensus to let her take an indefinite leave to prepare for a possible impeachment trial in the Senate.
“Hindi ko maintindihan (I don’t understand) where she is coming from, fighting it out when this is already the end of the road for her,” said the lawmaker.
Her colleagues’ decision was a huge blow to her defense and resigning would be the “honorable thing for her to do,” Umali said.
“She’s the leader of the Supreme Court, and leadership calls for her to do the right thing,” he said.
Aside from the impeachment complaint that Atty. Lorenzo “Larry” Gadon filed at the House, Solicitor General Jose Calida filed at the Supreme Court a petition for quo warranto proceedings seeking to nullify Sereno’s appointment.
The Committee on Justice was scheduled to vote on the probable cause yesterday but this was cancelled due to the unavailability of a bigger venue to accommodate the anticipated big number of attendees, including representatives who are not part of the panel.
If the panel determines there is probable cause, the House will have to vote on the committee report before the Articles of Impeachment may be remitted to the Senate.
On Tuesday House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the House vote (not the vote on the probable cause, as earlier reported) might happen in May as they await the Supreme Court decision on Calida’s quo warranto petition. The high court has already ordered Sereno to reply.
In a speech yesterday, Sereno said the people should not be “passive spectators” when critics face intimidation and persecution and “where shortcuts are preferred over adherence to constitutional guarantees of human rights.”
Sereno was accused of having a lavish lifestyle while failing to disclose her income fully. The late Chief Justice Renato Corona has been impeached over similar accusations./PN
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