More than half of the Philippine Senate on Thursday asked the Philippine Supreme Court to review its decision to oust its chief justice, calling the ruling a “dangerous precedent” that infringed on constitutional powers of the Philippine Congress to impeach senior officials.
Fourteen of 23 senators signed the resolution, including eight who are allies of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
They were led by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, who has said Philippine Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno can only be removed through a congressional impeachment.
Photo: AP
Duterte has called for the ouster of Sereno, who has criticized his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs and naming in public of some judges he has linked to narcotics.
However, the volatile president on Wednesday said that he “never lifted a finger” and was not involved in efforts to boot Sereno out of the country’s highest court.
The court’s unprecedented expulsion of Sereno, based on a government petition, pre-empted an impeachment process that has been underway in Congress for months.
The petition accused Sereno of failing to file her assets disclosures as a state university professor years ago, a charge she denies.
Critics have warned of a constitutional crisis if the legislature, specifically the Senate, insists that it has the sole constitutional power to remove Sereno if she is impeached by the Philippine House of Representatives and found guilty in a Senate trial.
In their resolution, the 14 senators said the 8-6 vote by the 15-member court on Friday last week “sets a dangerous precedent that transgresses the exclusive powers of the legislative branch to initiate, try and decide all cases of impeachment.”
“The Senate recognizes that the continued harmonious interdependence of these branches lies in the faithful adherence of each branch of government to the constitution,” they said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has called for the court ruling to be respected.
The Senate was not being deprived of its power, because no articles of impeachment have been presented to it, he said.
The House had been set to vote on impeachment charges accusing Sereno of corruption, breach of public trust and other crimes, and then send them to the Senate.
The Senate was preparing to turn itself into an impeachment court to try Sereno, who had gone on a two-month leave from the court to prepare for her defense.
In one of her strongest criticisms of Duterte, Sereno on Thursday called on the president to honor his pledge to resign if it can be proven that he had a hand in her removal from the court.
Duterte himself called her an “enemy” and vowed to have her removed by Congress in a recent public outburst, she said.
Sereno blasted Duterte’s brash and expletive-laden public remarks, including ordering troops to shoot female rebels in the genitals, as well as his deadly campaign against illegal drugs and his intimidation of critics and perceived enemies like her, which she said resembled the dictatorial ways of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos.
She asked the public to stand up for justice and accountability.
“The only way to fight a bully is to resist,” Sereno said, adding that she would be a part of the struggle.
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