Oral arguments set on quo warranto petition

By Dane Angelo M. Enerio
THE SUPREME COURT (SC) en banc on Tuesday directed Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno to attend oral arguments for the quo warranto petition against her on April 10 at the court’s Session Hall in Baguio City, according to a press statement.
The statement released during the start of the SC’s summer session said the high court had summoned Ms. Sereno, who is currently on leave, “to attend personally and answer questions from the Court En Banc (with regards to the petition).”
Solicitor-General Jose C. Calida, the author of the petition seeking to void Ms. Sereno’s appointment for being unable to submit her complete Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) as a requirement for her post, said in a tweet, “There is no better party to address the petition head-on than Sereno herself.”
Aside from the quo warranto petition against her, Ms. Sereno also anticipates an impeachment trial following the transmittal of the articles of impeachment by the House of Representatives to the Senate.
Mr. Calida, in a new petition filed on Monday, sought to have the SC dismiss the motions to intervene against his quo warranto petition filed by the parties of Zorayda Amelia C. Alonzo, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), and the Bayan Muna party-list group. The government lawyer argued they had no legal interest in his quo warranto petition.
The SC in its statement said it has denied the motions by Ms. Alonzo and Bayan Muna but “noted” that of the IBP, the country’s mandatory bar organization.
In his quo warranto petition filed on March 5, Mr. Calida argued that “the 1987 Constitution does not state anywhere that impeachment is the sole means of removing an impeachable officer.”