Sereno’s ouster ‘fundamentally wrong’

Allow us to react to the editorial “Time to ‘pulverize sword of Damocles’” (4/21/21). We totally agree with letter-writer Yvette San Luis-Petrocelli (“Sereno’s reinstatement not going to happen,” 3/31/21) that former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno only lost her post as chief justice, but not as an associate justice. Petrocelli had elementary logic on her side.

True that Sereno “has not expressed interest in her… reinstatement as associate justice,” but it seems pretty obvious she is not as shameless as her colleagues in that Court who had absolutely no delicadeza and let their shameful, scorched-earth bias against her get the better of them. And they call themselves “honorable justices”?

The current Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down Solicitor General Jose Calida’s second attempt at quo warranto against Associate Justice Marvic Leonen (another member of the Court the Duterte administration needs like a hole in the head) sent a clear message that the statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) should NEVER be weaponized to remove a sitting justice (“SC vindicates Corona, grants full retirement benefits,” 2/9/21). To our simple way of thinking, the Court actually meant to say: “Should NEVER have been weaponized…” What was sauce for the gander (the late chief justice Renato Corona) should be sauce for the goose (Sereno)!

Was that not a clear admission that the ouster of Sereno as chief justice was fundamentally wrong, based as it was only on her lack of SALNs? Granting that such ouster had long become final and irreversible, that judgment had no effect whatsoever on her status as an associate justice, which was never challenged in terms of her qualification for that post. She has neither retired nor resigned as such. If genuine justice still means anything to the Supreme Court, it should rectify that grievous mistake and allow her back to do her constitutional duty.

Chin Chin Katigbak,cckatigbak@yahoo.com.ph