Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
“She did not earn the approval of her peers. Instead, she had to trek the lonely road by voicing her dissent against authoritarianism,” Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said in speech during the National Women’s Month celebration at St. Scholastica’s College.
Sereno was paying tribute to the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, who she said fearlessly fought the martial rule of then President Ferdinand Marcos. However, she may have been using allusion to refer to her current situation.
The Chief Justice is currently on leave after she was pushed by her colleagues to go on an indefinite leave in order to prepare for her looming impeachment trial at the Senate.
In her speech, she was careful not to mention the impeachment, the quo warranto petition against her or what court insiders said as ‘judicial coup d’état.’
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“In some of the darkest days of our nation’s history…when hope seems at its dimmest, she was at her bravest,” Sereno said referring to Justice Palma.
“Her light shone for all of us. It shone the brightest as she courageously dissented in several martial law cases that, to her, undermine the Rule of Law,” Sereno said.
Justice Palma, according to Sereno “embodies to the utmost, the ‘can-do’ spirit, in reference to my first proposition that all of us must be actively involved in nation building.”
“She has been called ‘a woman exemplar for all seasons,’” Sereno said noting that Justice Palma graduated valedictorian from St. Scholastica and “broke many ceilings” by becoming the first woman prosecutor, first woman judge of Court of First Instance and first woman justice of the Supreme Court.
Like Palma, Sereno also broke ceiling by becoming the first woman Chief Justice.
Sereno has clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte in the past after the latter publicly identified judges allegedly involved in illegal drug trade.
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Malacañang already denied they have a hand in efforts to oust Sereno although the quo warranto petition, considered a shortcut to remove the top magistrate from her post, was initiated by Solicitor General Jose Calida, the lead government lawyer.