FORMER President Benigno Aquino III and other critics on Friday slammed the Supreme Court decision ousting Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno from power.
He was joined by Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Ralph Recto, Juan Edgardo Angara, Sherwin Gatchalian, Panfilo Lacson, Joel Villanueva, Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes IV, Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino and Leila de Lima, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines and Sanlakas.
“If the law is already clear, there is no more need to explain. It is clear in the Constitution that an impeachable officer can only be removed through impeachment,” said Aquino who appointed Sereno.
“In my own opinion, we see a forced decision whatever the explanation of the majority.”
Robredo said Sereno’s ouster set a “very dangerous precedent that may seriously undermine the independence of the judiciary.”
“We express alarm over this decision in the strongest terms,” she said.
Recto said the high court decision set a bad precedent.
“The decision in effect reduced the powers of both houses of Congress. I do not expect the House to impeach the Chief Justice,” he said.
Angara said impeachment was the only constitutional route for removing a chief justice.
“The ripple effect of the decision may be felt in the coming months and years. I pray that wisdom and sobriety prevail in
the future for the good of the country and our people,” he said.
Gatchalian said the high court “circumvented” the constitutional mandate of Congress when it ruled on Sereno’s case.
Lacson said the ones who stood to gain the most from the high court decision were the “incompetent lawyers” who would have been fully exposed if the impeachment trial had pushed through.
Villanueva said he stood by the Constitution and that “the “only means to remove the chief justice is through impeachment.”
Drilon said he totally disagreed with the high court’s decision.
“The Constitution is clear that the only remedy on erring constitutional officers like the chief justice is a conviction in an impeachment proceeding,” he said.
Pangilinan said he respected the high court decision but disagreed with it.
“What the majority in the Supreme Court did was a disgrace to the Constitution,” Pangilinan said as he called on the people to express their opinion against the tribunal’s decision.
Trillanes said the Supreme Court, which was supposed to be the cradle of the fragile Constitution, was the same body that killed it.
Said Hontiveros: “By giving its nod to an obviously unconstitutional petition, the high tribunal has surrendered its judicial independence and integrity to the whims of President [Rodrigo] Duterte and subverted altogether our constitutional process of impeachment.”
Said Aquino: “The people lost again. If the Chief Justice can just be removed without going through the correct process, what more ordinary Filipinos?”
De Lima said the Supreme Court decision was probably the greatest travesty of justice committed by the high court since the 1973 case of Javellana v. Executive Secretary, where the Supreme Court ushered in the era of the Marcos Dictatorship.
“This one ushers in another era of another dictatorship as the Court once again puts an end to the last gasps of a dying constitutional democracy,” she said.
In a statement, the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice, and Peace slammed Duterte for his alleged manipulation of the internal squabble among the high court justices by using it as a cause to take out Sereno.
“NASSA strongly denounces this evil maneuvering of the legal process and the rule of law to satisfy the personal interest of the President. Duterte was elected and sworn to protect the Constitution and observe the rule of law but he violates this task,” CBCP-NASSA said.
“Today, we got to witness how all branches of our government could be made to bend according to the will of President Duterte,” said Sanlakas secretary-general Aaron Pedrosa in a statement.
Through the efforts of his key allies in the judiciary”•not unlike his allies in the executive and in the legislative-an entire institution has degraded itself to do the President bidding, and in this case to get rid of opposition.”