The Supreme Court building in Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The only “constitutionally-recognized mode” of removing a Chief Justice is none other than an impeachment trial, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said on Friday.
“Any artifice or device intended to solely target the Chief Justice and short-circuit the process would be repugnant to the Constitution, and must be slain on sight if our democratic processes are to be observed,” the nationwide group of lawyers said in a statement.
READ: Marcos lawyer asks SC to void appointment of Sereno as CJ
Lawyer Oliver Lozano, a Marcos loyalist, filed on Friday a petition before the SC to nullify the appointment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Lozano said the impeachment hearing at the House of Representatives and the question on Sereno’s qualification “have caused deep division and dissension in the Bench and Bar.”
But the IBP stressed that following the due process of law in removing a sitting Chief Justice is intended “to shield judges from the political elements that may have played a role in their appointment to the bench.”
“The Supreme Court (SC) itself has repeatedly emphasized our Constitution’s built-in bias towards a fearless and an incorruptible judiciary that is prepared to follow the law and to administer it regardless of consequences,” the group said.
“We breathe life into this prized democratic value by according the Chief Justice due process of law in accordance with the rules governing the difficult process of impeachment,” it added.
Moreover, the IBP welcomed the assumption of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who has “distinguished himself as a highly capable and fiercely independent jurist,” as Acting Chief Justice.
“There are no better hands to take the baton of leadership in the meantime that we wait for evidence to be presented or controverted in the impending trial of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno,” the IBP said./ac