Members of the House Makabayan bloc and people鈥檚 organizations on Tuesday filed a motion for reconsideration (MR) on the Supreme Court鈥檚 (SC) decision denying their petition to intervene on the quo warranto case against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Last April 3, the SC denied, for lack of merit, the group鈥檚 motion for leave to file motion to intervene in the quo warranto proceedings against the Chief Justice on-leave.
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READ: SC asks Sereno to attend oral arguments on quo warranto case
The group maintained that it has 鈥渓egal interest鈥� on the issue as the Chief Justice 鈥渃an only be removed from office through impeachment.鈥�
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READ: Groups, former Senator ask SC to junk ouster case vs Sereno
In a statement, the Makabayan bloc said the allegations in the quo warranto petition are clearly 鈥渢he same as the contents of Article I, Sections A to D, of the Articles of Impeachment, which deals exclusively with the issue of the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALNs) of Chief Justice Sereno.鈥�
鈥淐learly, this present quo warranto petition is but a form of forum shopping intending to derail and hijack the ongoing impeachment process to the prejudice of all Intervenors,鈥� the progressive solons added.
The quo warranto petition, they said, could overtake the impeachment process in Congress.
鈥淐learly, such a scenario is to the prejudice of the legal rights of Intervenors, who as Members of Congress, have the collective and exclusive constitutional right to initiate all cases of impeachment. As such, Intervenors have a clear legal interest in the matter in litigation,鈥� they added.
The groups also pointed out that the attempt to shift the arena for Sereno鈥檚 ouster from the impeachment process towards the quo warranto process, 鈥渄eprives the citizens and taxpayers of their participation, since the resolution of the ouster or removal of Sereno will now be under the hands of our Justices, albeit not elected public officials.鈥�
The quo warranto petition seeking to disqualify Sereno as Chief Justice was filed by the Office of the Solicitor General last March 5. It alleged that she was unqualified for the position.
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READ: Solgen Calida questions Sereno鈥檚 qualifications before SC
But Sereno鈥檚 camp brushed off this petition as baseless.
READ: CJ Sereno not worried of SC 鈥榩olitical noise,鈥� says spox听听听听听 /muf
