Stand on issues may have caused impeachment move, Sereno says

The impeachment proceedings against her could have been caused by the positions she has taken in certain issues that confronted the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said on Friday.

Asked at a news forum if her stand may have played a role in the attempt to impeach her, Sereno said, "That's a big possibility, sir. That is a big possibility."

"I think some people are just not comfortable with the fact that the stand I have taken," Sereno said at a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

"It might have meant even a condemnation even in strong language," she added.

Sereno dissented in the SC's decision to uphold the executive branch's move to allow the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

She also voted against the extension of martial law in Mindanao, another move by the Duterte administration that the high tribunal affirmed.

Sereno also sent President Rodrigo Duterte a letter in 2016 when she expressed concern over his linking of seven judges to the illegal drug trade.

Duterte has denied having a hand in the impeachment proceedings against the chief justice.

Congress, however, is filled with his allies. The House Committee on Justice recently voted to find probable cause to impeach Sereno.

Solicitor General Jose Calida has filed with the Supreme Court a petition for quo warranto against Sereno, a pleading that challenges the validity of her appointment over her alleged incomplete submission of declarations of her assets and liabilities.

Sereno has been asked to answer this petition by her colleagues in the high tribunal. 

On Friday, she passed to Calida the burden of answering if the administration had a hand in the efforts to unseat her.

"I think you'll have to ask Solicitor General Calida from which particular impetus or authority this actions he has been taking flows from," Sereno said.

"The President has made it on record several times that he's not involved, but I guess we just let the people decide that question. My thoughts on the matter will remain private, and I thank you," she added.

While she has earlier said she would leave Duterte's denials of involvement in the impeachment as they were, Sereno said on Friday that she was accepting all the possibilities as regards the driving force behind her predicament.

"I accept all the possibilities. Remember I said that I know that those statements have been made, but I also know the Solicitor General's participation, so that much is clear, I think. I am open to that possibility," Sereno said. 

Sereno is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.

She has gone on indefinite leave after she was asked to go on leave by her peers in the high tribunal.

Sereno, who has repeatedly said that she would not resign, has said that she went on leave to prepare for the expected impeachment trial in the Senate. —NB, GMA News