THERE IS a clear and present danger upon us, and it issues from the Highest Court of the Land.
It was recently reported that the Supreme Court will release its decision on the Quo Warranto petition against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on May 17, 2018, two weeks after it goes into recess. This is an unusual development. The Coalition for Justice believes it is an alarming development, because the High Court is pursuing with haste what must be done with careful deliberation. The decision on the Quo Warranto action must not be rushed.
There are several issues that take priority. The Supreme Court must explain its denial of the four motions to intervene in the Quo Warranto case. It must act on the intervenors’ motions to be heard. And, above all, it must justify its condonation of the Biased 5’s refusal to inhibit despite their hostile and partial conduct toward CJ Sereno. All of this is on its plate, yet the Supreme Court will decide on May 17. We can only surmise that it is pre-empting the transmittal to the Senate of the House of Representative’s empty Articles of Impeachment. It is well-known that these Articles have no hope of success; thus, the Quo Warranto must prosper.
By granting the Quo Warranto petition, the Justices will be poising the ax at the root of their own tree. This precedent will dismantle the system of checks and balances enshrined in our Constitution, designed to preserve the fragile balance of power that guarantees a working democracy. By granting the Quo Warranto petition, the Justices will make the Solicitor General more powerful than the Senate. They will permit him to remove any constitutional officer by Quo Warranto action on the mere whiff of ineligibility. Worst of all, the Supreme Court will enable the Solicitor General to demolish judicial independence by removing any judicial officer at the will and whim of the President. This renders the Supreme Court impotent, a political eunuch acting at the behest of a tyrant; worse, it threatens the tenure of magistrates in good standing all over the land. What jurist can rule fairly with a sword dangling overhead?
This is the end to which the Supreme Court is leading us. The Coalition for Justice maintains that a decision granting the Quo Warranto action is UNJUST and ILLEGAL. That the deliberations were participated in by the Biased 5 who displayed prejudice and rancor against the CJ; that the decision was drafted by one of them, Noel Tijam, who circulated it on April 2, before the oral arguments and the submission of final memoranda; that the grounds for the petition are without basis and yet the Supreme Court continues to lean toward it – all these confirm the injustice that marks the High Court today. For these reasons, the Coalition for Justice charges the Supreme Court with culpable violation of the Constitution. We shall repudiate its unlawful ruling sustaining the Quo Warranto petition.
The Constitution declares that ultimate power resides in the people. We now exercise that power in defense of our institutions and the rule of law. We shall not rest until truth, righteousness, and justice are restored to our land. This is our pledge, and so we mark it today. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
(Statement of the Coalition for Justice on the unjust, illegal Supreme Court ruling on quo warranto dated April 24, 2918)
