"What is sauce for Sereno should be sauce for Leonen."
About two years ago, Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen cast a dissenting vote on the quo warranto petition against Ma. Lourdes Sereno. Setting aside his reason or reasons for his negative vote, one could easily surmise he voted against the petition simply because he and Sereno were both Noynoy Aquino appointees, thus it would be expected for him to throw his support behind her.
However, in his Manila Times column last Sunday, Rigoberto “Bobi” Tiglao, bared that Leonen had also committed the same offense for which Sereno’s appointment to the SC was invalidated – the non-filing of statement of assets and liabilities while serving at the University of the Philippines. In fact, Tiglao said Leonen had been more remiss than Sereno in filing his SALNs.
Immediately, I raised a question for lawyer Larry Gadon in our Viber group, asking him if he would initiate the filing of a quo warranto petition against Leonen, in the same fashion as with Sereno. Gadon replied in the affirmative.
Actually, Gadon said he had already sent Solicitor General Jose Calida an electronic mail requesting him to initiate such a move.
“If Sereno was ousted from the Supreme Court due to lack of integrity as exemplified by her non-filing of SALNs in UP for many years, then there is no reason why the same standard should not be applied to AJ Leonen,” read Gadon’s letter to Calida, a copy of which was furnished to the media.
Precisely, what is sauce for the goose is also the sauce for the gander. And Leonen should have known it would also be applied to him. The decision on Sereno’s case established a jurisprudence. Leonen’s casting a negative vote on the Sereno quo warranto petition because he doesn’t believe it was right would not save him.
After Sereno’s appointment was invalidated on the basis of the non-filing of SALN, Leonen should have also tendered his resignation. But he chose not to. This is tantamount to concealing his records, which could erode his integrity and credibility – basic requirements in seeking an SC seat.
Hence, before a quo warranto petition or an impeachment case is initiated against him, maybe it would be better for Justice Leonen to resign immediately. And maybe his removal from the High Court would turn out to be beneficial – as we could maybe see the resolution of the vice-presidential protest as soon as a new justice is appointed in his stead
**
After barely a year in office, three neophyte Metro Manila mayors have obtained the seals of approval by their respective constituents in terms of handling the pandemic.
In the latest Pulso ng Pilipino survey of The Issues and Advocacy Center conducted July 3 to August 6, respondents have given Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto passing marks in their handling of the COVID-19 contagion.
In the first question, the respondents were asked about their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the way their local chief executives performed after they were sworn into office on June 30, 2019. Some 91 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the one-year performance of Sotto, whose anti-corruption campaign has drawn raves here and abroad. Only nine percent said they are not satisfied.
Moreno, with his drive to clean Manila and turn it into the premier metropolis the way it was before, earned an 84-percent satisfaction rating with only 16 percent of Manilans saying they are not satisfied.
Calixto-Rubiano, who is on her first term after having served Pasay City for three terms as the city’s lone representative, was given a satisfaction rating of 79 percent. The high-performance satisfaction rating given to Ms. Calixto-Rubiano was primarily based on the effective delivery of the so-called 11 minimum basic needs or MBNs. Pasay City residents apparently are satisfied with how the Pasay City LGU delivered on its services to the city’s more than 420,000 residents.
According to Ed Malay, executive director of The Center, the non-commissioned electronic survey for the period covered has a confidence level of 98 percent and a margin of error of 2.5 percent. Due to time constraints owing to the current crisis, only three trichotomous questions were fielded where the respondents can only choose from three types of responses – Satisfied, Not Satisfied and Don’t Know or Undecided.
The survey covered 1,200 respondents throughout the NCR region and these were pro-rated based on the percentages relative to the number of registered voters in each of the 16 cities and one municipality that comprise the metropolis. The Pulso ng Pilipino survey relied on the random direct dial (RDD) method as well as other digital platforms such as SMS, Google Forms, Dial-Up, eMail and other applicable platforms.