SC asked to stop Calida’s bid to unseat Leonen

Marvic Leonen (left) and Jose Calida

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court should thwart Solicitor General Jose Calida’s effort to repeat history by unseating Associate Justice Marvic Leonen through his wealth declaration statements or the lack of it, a Senate leader said on Sunday.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Calida’s attempts to secure the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of Leonen “for purposes of preparing a quo warranto petition” were obviously aimed at doing a repeat of the legal maneuver he did in 2018 when a similar petition led to the ouster of then Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

“The SC justices should now realize that they are now in a slippery slope by allowing the removal of CJ Sereno through a quo warranto,” the senator said in a text message to the Inquirer.

“This is an opportunity for the SC to correct that mistake,” Drilon said.

On May 11, 2018, the high tribunal removed Sereno as chief justice by an 8-6 vote on the strength of Calida’s petition in a decision many legal luminaries found to be bizarre and questionable.

Sereno became the first impeachable official to be removed from office without an impeachment trial.

“It is clear that the purpose of OSG (Office of the Solicitor General)’s attempt to secure Justice Leonen’s SALN is for the same to form a basis for a petition for a quo warranto to remove a sitting justice from the Supreme Court,” Drilon said.

“It is my view that the remedy, the Sereno decision to the contrary notwithstanding, is totally repugnant to the Constitution, impeachment being the only remedy allowed to remove impeachable officials,” he said.

Drilon expressed confidence that should it come to it, Leonen would be able to defend himself.

“Knowing Justice Leonen, I am certain that he will not be intimidated by OSG’s baseless attempt,” he said.

On Sept. 15, the Supreme Court rejected the OSG’s request, along with a separate filing from lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, for copies of Leonen’s SALNs.

Calida filed a motion for reconsideration last week, according to a newspaper report.

Gadon had sought copies of Leonen’s SALN from 1990 to 2011, spanning his years as a law professor at the University of the Philippines. He was named to the Supreme Court in November 2012 by then President Benigno Aquino III.

Among the magistrates, Leonen is known to be a dissenter in major cases reaching the court.