MANILA – Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno wanted another high court magistrate to inhibit from hearing the quo warranto petition that the Office of Solicitor General filed against her.
Associate Justice Samuel Martires “manifested actual bias” against her during the oral arguments on the petition, Sereno said in a pleading filed before the Supreme Court.
“It appears that Justice Martires has formed an opinion on the competence of respondent (Sereno) to serve as chief justice on some basis other than what he learned from his participation in this case,” read part of Sereno’s pleading.
“His (Martires) objectivity and impartiality therefore appears to have been impaired,” the chief justice said.
Martires was the sixth justice Sereno asked to inhibit from the case.
The others were associate justices Teresita Leonardo De Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, and Noel Tijam.
In the new plea, Sereno also asked the Supreme Court en banc to resolve her earlier motions that sought the inhibition of the five other justices before it decides on the quo warranto case.
Allowing these six justices to join the deliberations would create a perception that there has been “manifest unfairness in the process,” Sereno noted.
The inhibition of the six justices “will be the best way to prove that they were not personally invested in the result of the case,” Sereno said.
“They should inhibit from the case out of delicadeza and out of the great public necessity that this Honorable Court be perceived as a neutral body,” said the Supreme Court chief justice.
She added: “It is not wrong to expect that, in their presence, the motions for inhibition will not prosper merely because of the numerical strength of the justices whose competence is being challenged.”
Solicitor General Jose Calida initiated the quo warranto petition against Sereno as he questioned the latter’s qualification to the high court.
The petition came as Sereno – accused of failing to fully disclose her wealth while living a lavish lifestyle – prepares for a possible impeachment trial at the Senate./PN
