SC: No constitutional crisis despite CJ ouster without impeachment trial

The Supreme Court dismissed warnings that a constitutional crisis could arise if it would allow the removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno without an impeachment trial.

In its 153-page decision that disqualified Sereno from holding the top magistrate position, the SC said there could not be a constitutional crisis considering that Constitution itself had given them the authority to resolve quo warranto cases.

“The Court’s exercise of jurisdiction over an action for quo warranto falls within the ambit of its judicial power to settle justiciable issues or actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable,” the high court said.

Resolving quo warranto cases is among the powers of the Supreme Court stated under Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution.

A quo warranto petition once granted allows the removal an unqualified official from his or her post.

Solicitor General Jose Calida filed the quo warranto petition against Sereno for her failure to submit a complete copy of her statement of assets, liabilities and networth (SALN) when she applied for the chief justice post in 2012.

The SC said an outright dismissal of the petition would be “a clear abdication of their duty.”

“The easiest way to lose power is to abdicate it,” the SC said. /atm