By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS, GMA News
Published December 10, 2020 4:52pm Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez on Thursday said the ouster of then-chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno through quo warranto was a violation of the Constitution and cannot happen in the impeachment bid against Supreme Court (SC) Justice Marvic Leonen. Sereno was already facing an impeachment complaint at the House of Representatives when Solicitor General Jose Calida asked the SC itself to unseat her in 2018. Constitutionalists argued SC justices can only be removed from office through impeachment but the highest Philippine court ruled otherwise, deciding in the landmark case to oust its own chief justice over her alleged failure to file her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) for years.
IN my column of September 7, I wrote:
âSupreme Court Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen may be even a worse offender of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) Law than the ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. That law (called the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) requires all state officials and employees to file their yearly SALNs.
âSereno was removed from her post in 2018 for having failed to file such reports for six years, an offense for which her colleagues decided that she had no integrity and, therefore, could not have been appointed as chief justice.