The recent ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno by eight members of the Supreme Court (SC), six of whom should have inhibited themselves from the quo warranto proceedings but chose to act as witness, prosecutor, judge and virtual executioner all rolled into one out of seemingly personal spite, is an act of treachery that should not go unredressed.
Not surprisingly, the sneak attack on the system of checks and balances crucial to a functional democracy has triggered popular outrage, with even groups of lawyers and deans of law schools deploring what they believe is an outright travesty of the Constitution and the rule of law in this country.
Now, 14 senators have already signed a draft resolution “respectfully” urging the High Tribunal to review its decision against Sereno.
We commend the senators who signed the resolution. They are Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, Senators Antonio F. Trillanes, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, Francis N. Pangilinan and Leila M. de Lima, all from the minority bloc, and majority Sens. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, Juan Edgardo M. Angara, Grace Poe, Francis G. Escudero, Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, Ralph G. Recto, and Loren B. Legarda. They are helping put Philippine democracy back on track.
We agree with the resolution that “the Supreme Court’s decision to grant the quo warranto petition sets a dangerous precedent that transgresses the exclusive powers of the legislative branch to initiate, try and decide all cases of impeachment.”
We likewise concur with the senators that “the decision of the Supreme Court to allow an extra-constitutional means to remove a Supreme Court justice blatantly usurps the constitutional power of the Senate to remove an impeachable official from office.”
We understand that Sereno will soon file a motion for reconsideration that will spell out her counterarguments, and refute the allegation that she showed lack of integrity when she failed to file her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) during her term as a University of the Philippines (UP) professor.
According former Solicitor General and UP law Prof. Florin Hilbay, who was our main guest at the Saturday News Forum@University Hotel, the Senate should consider asking for a rehearing of the SC decision on the quo warranto petition against Sereno as the Constitution vests it with the sole power to convene as an impeachment court.
At the same time, he cautioned against “demonizing” the SC justices who voted to oust Sereno, as the case is not yet finished, and this prevents a rational discussion of the law and the Constitution.
The 8-6 vote on the Sereno case, he noted, is very close, and a reversal of the decision cannot be dismissed outright particularly if Sereno can prove the earlier contention of her legal team that she had been able to retrieve the missing SALNs when she was still a UP professor.
Hilbay lamented that the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the entity that approved the application of Sereno for chief justice and submitted her name to President Benigno S. Aquino III, was not given the chance to present its side during the hearing. The Senate was not even required to comment, he pointed out.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel
The Senate has been reorganized, with Vicente C. Sotto III taking over as Senate President after Pimentel relinquished the post to the former comedian and longtime TV variety- show host.
Sotto had said words to the effect of: “Who am I to refuse?”
We take that to mean that Sotto feels that he richly deserves the lofty position—which would put him in third place in the line of succession to the presidency—having sat in the Senate for as long as we can remember because the electorate put him there.
But it’s one thing to have made an impact on Philippine lawmaking and another to occupy a Senate seat without any perceptible agenda, simply coasting along and agreeing with whatever those in power want him to do. But, of course, we owe him one for authoring the bill mandating the compulsory use of seatbelts in moving vehicles. That would have been a truly novel and revolutionary idea—but in the era of horse-and-buggy.
Sotto, it appears to me, has become too big for his britches, and really believes that he is now in the league of past illustrious senators like Claro M. Recto, Lorenzo Tañada, Jose W. Diokno and Jovito Salonga, all of whom displayed high statesmanship, superior intellect and genuine love of country.
How low can the Senate go? As low as it can get with Sotto at the helm, we’re afraid.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.