By Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos
Malacañang appealed to the public yesterday to respect the decision of the Supreme Court to oust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno by voting for the quo warranto petition filed against her.
In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the Supreme Court knows what it is doing as it is the final arbiter of the law.
“The High Court has spoken. Let us respect its decision granting the quo warranto petition as the proper remedy and the quo warranto petition ruling against Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno,” he said.
“The Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government, is duty-bound to uphold the Constitution. The court ruling is likewise an assertion of the supremacy of the fundamental law of the land,” he added.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo also made the same appeal in a statement, adding that democracy works in the country. “The Supreme Court has spoken. We all must bow to the majesty of the law. The Constitution has given the duty of interpreting the law to the highest court of the land and we must abide by it regardless of our disagreement with its ruling. That is how democracy works,” Panelo said.
“Each branch of the government performs its duty as defined by the Constitution. And the judicial branch has performed its task as directed by the Constitution,” he added.
Panelo reiterated that quo warranto and impeachment are legal modes of removing public officers. He said impeachment removes qualified impeachable officers while the other ousts unqualified public officials.