Opposition bloc tells SC to respect Senate’s power to try impeachment cases

Opposition senators on Friday reminded the Supreme Court (SC) to respect the Senate as a co-equal branch of government by recognizing its exclusive power to try and remove impeachable officials of the government.

In a 25-page motion for reconsideration, Senators Leila De Lima and Antonio Trillanes asked the high court to reverse its May 11, 2018 decision granting the quo warranto petition that ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

The May 11, 2018 decision, with a vote of 8-6, the high court declared that Sereno is disqualified from holding the chief magistrate post.

It declared the chief justice position vacant and ordered the Judicial and Bar Council to start the search for Sereno’s replacement.

READ: Peers kick Sereno out via Calida’s QW

De Lima and Trillanes filed a motion to dismiss the quo warranto case but the high court ruled against it on the ground that they have no legal interest in the case because the impeachment complaint is still at the House of Representatives.

However, De Lima and Trillanes insisted that they have an interest on the matter because under the Constitution, only the Senate has the exclusive power to try and remove an impeachable official like Sereno.

They said removing Sereno via a quo warranto proceeding is “an unconstitutional act of usurpation of Congress’ exclusive power to remove an impeachable officer via impeachment proceedings.”

The action, they said “violates the legal interest and duty vested by the Constitution on the Senate, of which movant-intervenors are members and is, thus, repugnant to the Constitution and destructive of the system of checks and balances established therein.”

The Senators informed the high court of the proposed Resolution 738 signed by 14 Senators calling to uphold their constitutional mandate of removing a chief justice.

READ: 14 senators file resolution urging SC review of Sereno ouster

They added that the high court should not allow itself to be used by the executive who has no intention of following the methods stated under the law.

They pointed out that Solicitor General Jose Calida himself, when he filed the quo warranto petition, admitted that the move is “an act of kindness” to spare Sereno from the scrutiny of the Senators.

“Solicitor General Calida’s public admission that the filing of the Petition for Quo Warranto was intended to make the impeachment proceedings unnecessary and, thus, to prevent it from proceeding in due course is clear evidence of lack of good faith in the filing of the Petition vis-à-vis the impeachment proceedings,” they added. /vvp