Carpio: SC to rule on quo warranto petition vs. Sereno in May

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said on Thursday the Supreme Court may be able to decide next month on the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice on-leave Maria Lourdes Sereno.

“We hope to decide on it as soon as we can. By next month we should be able to decide on it,” Carpio said in an interview with reporters at the Quezon City Hall of Justice.

At the same time, he expects the SC to finish the draft decision on the case but declined to elaborate on the specifics of the ruling. “I cannot talk about that but we hope to finish it by end of May,” Carpio said.

Carpio presided over the oral arguments on the quo warranto petition during the high court’s session in Baguio City last week. The petition was filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.

The quo warranto petition is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority he or she has in exercising some right or power the person claims to hold—in this case, Sereno as chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Calida’s petition challenges the validity of Sereno’s appointment as top magistrate, based on allegations of lack of integrity when she supposedly failed to completely file her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth or SALN.

At the close of the oral arguments, Carpio ordered both camps to turn in their respective memorandums and the documents they have been asked to submit on or before April 20—without extension.

Carpio said the case will then be deemed submitted for resolution of the high court.

The memorandum sums up the arguments and may include additional claims to bolster the each side’s respective positions.

In the same interview, Carpio declined to comment on two Chinese military transport planes that supposedly landed on Panganiban Reef, which is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

A newspaper published a photograph supposedly taken on January 6 showing two Xian Y-7 military planes 20 to 50 meters apart on the ramp near Runway 21 of the reef.

“I don’t know the facts yet. I cannot comment,” said Carpio, who was a member of the Philippine legal team that won the case against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano has said the Philippines is prepared to take “diplomatic action” against China if it can confirm the presence of Chinese planes in the disputed reef.

Carpio led the launching of the Find Justice PH mobile app at the Quezon City Hall of Justice.

The app allows users to find various legal services and a list of trial court branches and chapters of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. —VDS, GMA News