Sereno: Wisdom, not politics, will guide SC in poll cases

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday assured that the Supreme Court (SC) will decide on election-related cases based on utmost wisdom and not on politics.

“Whatever decision that we may make on the petitions that are filed before us and that will be filed before us, it must be with the utmost wisdom,” Sereno told reports at the sidelines of the SC Christmas party.

Several election-related petitions are already pending before the SC including the “No Bio, No Boto” policy of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the petition filed by Rizalito David questioning the decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal’s (SET) dismissal of the disqualification case against presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe.

Recently, Comelec’s Division 1 disqualified Poe from running for president and the case is expected to be elevated to the SC soon.

For the SC, Sereno said it is not about who will win next year’s election “but the impact of whatever decision will come out from us [and its] long term consequences for our country.”

“It will measure our ability, it will gauge our ability to really be a modern democracy. It will tell the world whether we live by the rules we have set for ourselves or whether politics trumps everything else,” she added.

The Chief Justice said they are aware of the time constraints and know the need to immediately decide on election-related cases.

“It is clear to us that this Christmas season will not be a usual season for us. There might be things that we need to set aside because of the urgency of matters that need to be resolved,” Sereno said, adding that all the justices have made themselves available for any eventuality,” Sereno said.

She added that each of the justices has also made preparations by taking preliminary researches and preliminary readings.

“It behooves us to listen closely, to have an open mind about the facts that are going to be relayed before us or the legal arguments that are going to be set before us…We need to work hard because this is the only process by which we can ensure that the right, just outcome will be the result,” she added. IDL