De Lima, Trillanes seek to stop SC case vs Sereno

Opposition Senators Leila De Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV again urged the Supreme Court on Friday not to entertain the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

A day after at least three of their colleagues had rejected the call by the Coalition for Justice (CFJ) for the Senate to intervene in the case, De Lima and Trillanes said that “as citizens and taxpayers,” they wanted to “remind the members of the Supreme Court that they are treading on dangerous grounds” in entertaining the petition.

The Supreme Court is set to make a ruling on May 11—ahead of the resumption of Congress sessions on May 15—on the petition of the Office of the Solicitor General to nullify Sereno’s appointment because she failed to submit her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth during the selection process for the Chief Justice.

Suspend judgment

CFJ, a broad coalition of activists, lawmakers, church and civil society leaders had pressed the Senate to assert its sole authority to remove impeachable officials by asking the high court to suspend judgment on the quo warranto case.

But many senators were cool to the idea, noting that the House of Representatives had deferred plenary deliberations on the impeachment case brought against Sereno. They also said that the Senate could not intervene in the affairs of the judiciary.

In a joint statement, De Lima and Trillanes said the Supreme Court would betray the integrity of the institution itself by taking action on the quo warranto case.

They said the Supreme Court’s planned action would prevent Congress from exercising its powers of impeachment—a “betrayal of the Filipino people who ordained and promulgated the Constitution.”