Associate Supreme Court Justices Teresita de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Noel Tijam and Francis Jardeleza should resign if they fail to inhibit themselves from the ongoing hearing on the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
This was the demand made by a multi-sectoral group who had thrown their support to the Chief Justice, saying that the five Supreme Court justices had repeatedly shown their bias against the embattled Sereno.
“We call on the SC to honor its own Code and instantly compel the inhibition of the Biased 5. If the Biased 5 will not inhibit, we adamantly insist that they resign,” the Coalition for Justice said in a statement.
The groups numbering 400 Sereno supporters from the CFJ gathered at the SC compound in Padre Faura Street in Manila on Tuesday morning to protest Solicitor General Jose Calida’s petition for quo warranto, calling it “unconstitutional.”
“We demand that the Highest Court of the land prove to the Filipino people its respect for the Constitution and its own rulings. Justices, observe the law you are sworn to serve,” the statement added.
Sereno earlier asked the five justices to recuse from deliberations on the quo warrant petition, which challenges the validity of the top magistrate’s appointment in 2012.
Sereno had said that the five justices exhibited “bias” and “animosity” against her when they testified in the impeachment proceedings at the House justice committee.
But acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio announced the denial of all five of Sereno’s motions for inhibition for lack of merit, moments before the Court heard oral arguments on Calida’s petition last week.
“The SC is repudiating the Constitution it is mandated to defend. It disdains its own rulings and ignores the Code that sets the ethical bar for magistrates,” Sereno said.
“Its unseemly conduct in these quo warranto proceedings grievously tarnishes its legitimacy as a dispenser of justice. If it favors the Solicitor General, its ruling shall not only be illegal and void, it shall also critically jeopardize judicial independence as well as its own institutional integrity.”
Sereno’s camp had expressed fear that t3he Court may not be able to reach a fair decision on Calida’s petition after the five magistraties refused to recluse themselves.
Calida’s quo warranto petition alleged that Sereno lacks integrity for her supposed failure to completely file her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth in accordance with law.
But Sereno has appealed to dismiss Calida’s petition for lack of jurisdiction and merit.