BAGUIO CITY – An unprecedented event in the history of the country’s Judiciary is set to unfold here tomorrow afternoon as Chief Justice-on leave Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno will face her colleagues in the Supreme Court as a respondent in a petition to disqualify and oust her as head of the Judiciary.
This means that Sereno will not sit in the middle of the 14 other SC justices as Chief Justice on the elevated portion of the session hall, as she used to do since 2012, but will be seated among her lawyers and officials of the Office of the Solicitor General led by Solicitor General Jose C. Calida who, in behalf of the government, filed the quo warranto case.
With Sereno on indefinite leave since March 1, Senior Justice Antonio T. Carpio is the acting Chief Justice. The SC justices are in this city until the end of this month for their traditional summer sessions. In May, they will go into a month-long decision writing period.
Through her spokesperson lawyer Josa Deinla, Sereno said she will attend tomorrow’s oral argument that would start at 2 p.m.
Denila said the personal appearance of Sereno was assured even if the SC, as a full court, would not grant her motions to inhibit five incumbent justices from participating in the oral argument and in resolving the issues involved in the quo warranto case.
Sereno had earlier said that the quo warranto case has no merit and that the SC has no jurisdiction over the case since she can be removed only by impeachment under the provision of the Constitution.
Earlier in a notice sent to all parties, the SC had asked Sereno not only to be personally present but also to “testify under oath, affirm, and verify under oath the truth and veracity of the allegations in the comment filed by counsels supposedly on her behalf, expressly acknowledge this court’s jurisdiction to act upon the relief prayed for, in any.” (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
