The camp of the chief magistrate on Monday said Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno stands pat on position and won’t resign from her post.
In an interview, lawyer Josa Deinla, one of the spokesmen of the chief justice, said Sereno has done nothing illegal that could either to her ouster or resignation.
“The Chief Justice will not resign because she has done nothing unlawful, illegal and impeachable. But what she wants to happen is to continue fulfilling her job as chief magistrate,” Deinla said.
Last Sunday President Duterte called for the resignation of Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Morales, “I challenge the two [Sereno and Morales], we will go to Congress, in a simple ceremony, we sign the letter of resignation. Then let us open all the books, including yours.”
Meanwhile, responding to lawyer Larry Gadon’s reply to her answer to his impeachment complaint, Sereno has filed also on Monday before the House Committee on Justice a rejoinder. Last week Gadon described Sereno’s verified answer as a “litany of lamentable lies and lame logic” designed to maneuver her escape from impeachment.
In a 28-page verified rejoinder, Sereno said the impeachment complainant Gadon filed failed substantiate the allegations in his complaint against her, which should compel the committee to dismiss Gadon’s complaint.
According to the rejoinder, Gadon conceded that some of his allegations may not be impeachable offenses. These include Sereno’s alleged misdeclaration of her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, her allegedly illegal acquisition of a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle, her business-class travels, her shortlists for the six vacancies in the Sandiganbayan and her mental and psychological evaluation results.
Sereno also noted that some of Gadon’s allegations “will be verified later” during “evidentiary hearings”.
Under the House rules, Sereno cited that a “hearing presupposes that the grounds for impeachment presented by the complainant are already sufficient, a hearing is not the means to achieve that sufficiency.”
Sereno said the time, energy and resources of the state should not be devoted to a case where the complainant pleads so-called grounds for impeachment, but then readily admits the legality of the acts in question.
“Public funds should not finance a proceeding where the complainant swears based on personal knowledge and authentic records, but then cites news reports and expresses the need to verify his facts later. The people’s money should never fund a fishing expedition,” the Chief Justice’s rejoinder said.
The rejoinder also identified those that Gadon failed to provide with evidence, rendering his signed verification “perjurious.”
It also said that some evidence Gadon presented contradicted his allegations.