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Why did Noy appoint her Chief Justice? Sereno takes a guess


 

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Thursday said then-president Benigno Aquino III may have made an "out of the box" move when he appointed her in 2012.

She claimed, however, that she never asked the former chief executive nor made any conclusions on the reasons behind her now-controversial appointment.

"'Di ba parang siya minsan gumagawa ng outside of the box approach, tinatanggap niya 'yun, baka ito ay isang desisyon niya na outside of the box," she said in an interview on "State of the Nation with Jessica Soho."

Aquino appointed Sereno on August 24, 2012 to replace Renato Corona, who was impeached for failing to declare all his bank accounts in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

At the time, Sereno was an associate justice of the Supreme Court for two years, but she was picked over more senior justices, such as Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justices Roberto Abad, Arturo Brion, and Teresita De Castro.

Aside from Sereno, the other recommendees of the Judicial Bar Council were Solicitor-General Francis Jardeleza, former Ateneo De Manila University Law Dean Cesar Villanueva, and former Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora.

Sereno said it was not a mystery that the tradition of seniority in the Supreme Court was not followed.

"Hindi naman kababalaghan ba, kumbaga, sasabihin mong gano’n ang nangyari, kasi marami naman ding mapagkukuhaan ng tradisyon sa isang bansa," she said.

At a hearing of the House justice committee last year, De Castro said it was a "grave injustice" for Sereno to have been appointed despite allegedly not complying with all the requirements for her application to the post.

Sereno refused to resign as she faces impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives, which may soon be elevated to the Senate. 

In the Supreme Court, meanwhile, she is facing a petition for quo warranto, a pleading that questions the validity of her appointment over alleged submission of an incomplete SALN. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/NB, GMA News

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