THE FILING of the quo warranto case against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno sets a very dangerous and ruinous precedent that can even be used against any impeachable officer, including other justices of the Supreme Court who go against the wishes of and in the cross hairs of the administration or interest groups.
The Supreme Court itself ruled that it is forbidden to shortcut or circumvent the impeachment process. In the past, it did not even allow the disbarment of a Justice of the High Court because it maintained that the proper process is through impeachment. Why shouldn’t the same process be accorded to Chief Justice Sereno?
As it is, the quo warranto case is wrong and unconstitutional because it robs the Filipino people the means to properly hear the side and judge the Chief Justice through a trial at the Senate seating as an impeachment court. This legal shortcut, aside from taking such power away from the people, also undermines the judiciary as an institution. Imagine justices ousting their peers when all of them, as the Constitution itself rules, could only be removed from office through impeachment.
Interestingly, all allegations in the quo warranto case are already part of the Articles of Impeachment and have already been approved by the Lower House’s Justice Committee. It would be to the best interest of the country if the Chief Justice is given her fair trial in the Senate impeachment court.
