The camp of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday asked the Supreme Court to give her more time to respond to the show cause order issued against her for publicly expressing her “disdain and contempt” against some members of the Judiciary.
Atty. Josalee Deinla, one of Sereno’s spokespersons, confirmed that the motion has been filed on Friday and that they are asking for 15 more days or until June 9 to submit her compliance.
Last May 11, the high court gave Sereno 10 days from receipt of notice to explain why she should not be sanctioned for violating the Code of Professional Responsibility and the Code of Judicial Conduct “for transgressing the sub Judice rule and for casting aspersions and ill motives to the Members of the Supreme Court.”
The sub Judice rule prohibits the public discussion of pending cases in court.
“When this petition for quo warranto was filed, respondent (Sereno) continuously refuses to recognize this Court’s (SC’s) jurisdiction. Instead of participating in the process and answering the charges against her truthfully to assist in the expeditious resolution of the matter, respondent opted to proceed to a nationwide campaign, conducting speeches and accepting interviews, discussing the merits of the case and making comments thereon to vilify the members of the Congress, cast aspersions on the impartiality of the Members of the Court, degrade the faith of the people to the Judiciary, and falsely impute ill- motives against the government that it is orchestrating the charges against her,” the 153-page decision, penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, said.
“It is well-nigh unthinkable for respondent to profess deprivation of due process when she herself chose to litigate her case before the media,” the high court said. /vvp
READ: SC orders Sereno: Explain actions vs judiciary’s code of conduct