Supreme Court facade (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
A group supportive of Chief Justice on-leave Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday filed a copy of their online petition that garnered more than 16,000 signatures asking the Supreme Court (SC) to junk the ouster plea against Sereno.
The Coalition for Justice (CFJ) submitted a change.org petition to the SC which sought to dismiss the quo warranto case filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida and allow the Senate to push through with an impeachment trial.
Lawyer Pinkyn Bernabe, a CFJ member, said the online petition, titled “An Open Appeal to the Supreme Court: Dismiss the Quo Warranto Petition,” was still gathering signatures at the time of the submission.
The filing was intended to show a “the sentiment of the masses that they are against this unconstitutional (petition).”
“(This petition is) unconstitutional because it has no basis in the Constitution,” Bernabe told reporters in an ambush interview.
As of writing, the online petition has garnered 16,588 signatures.
Another CFJ member, Jack Alvarez, who launched the petition, said that the SC should “dismiss this insidious case and allow the Senate to exercise its constitutionally mandated duty.”
“Let the impeachment proceedings take their lawful course. Resist all efforts aimed at weakening our democratic institutions and forcing them into capitulation,” Alvarez said in a statement.
“In the end, we hope and trust that the Supreme Court and the Senate will prove themselves worthy champions of our Constitution,” he also said.