BACOLOD City – The president of the Integrated Bar of Philippines (IBP) Negros Occidental Chapter is worried that a constitutional crisis would follow after the Supreme Court (SC) granted a quo warranto petition ousting Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice.
Atty. Arnel Lapore said the decision that the SC made during Friday’s special en banc session was “never taught to us in law school.”
The SC’s 8-6 vote that favored the quo warranto petition is a landmark ruling.
Sereno is the first Philippine chief justice who was removed from position not by impeachment.
Lapore said the SC magistrates should have allowed Congress to resolve the issues regarding Sereno’s non-filing of her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth through an impeachment hearing.
“(Sereno’s) failure to file her SALNs is a clear indication of dishonesty, lack of probity and lack of integrity. Her ineligibility could not be cured by her nomination and later on appointment as chief justice,” the SC ruling stated.
Lapore added that it is “very clear” in the Constitution that appointed officials in constitutional bodies are only impeachable.
According to the IBP Negros Occidental head, it is a twofold blow since the SC justices made the decision against “their own kind.”
Lapore hopes that the ruling would not further divide the country and would not lead to a one-man rule.
“The country could not afford to have an additional crisis as we are currently being beset by the OFW crises in Kuwait, the Boracay fiasco, unemployment, ill effects of TRAIN law to ordinary citizens, human rights issues, and peace and order problem,” Lapore said.
Lapore said his statements were not that of the IBP Negros Occidental Chapter but only his own./PN
