Resolve public interest cases as fast as quo warranto petition vs. Sereno

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate and chairman Neri Colmenares on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to immediately resolve cases of public interest as quick as it did the quo warranto petition against ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

In a statement, Colmenares pointed out that Solicitor General Jose Calida filed the quo warranto petition against Sereno last March 5.

"The Supreme Court, with apparent inordinate speed, rendered its decision [on the quo warranto petition] about two months later on May 11, 2018," he said.

"On the other hand, the Supreme Court is sitting on many important public-interest cases for many months and even years," he added.

Colmenares, for one, cited the petition they filed against China and Philippines' joint exploration of the Spratlys on May 22, 2008.

But 10 years later, the court has yet to decide on this petition, which disallows China access to the Philippines' territorial sea, he said.

Bayan Muna also filed on January 6, 2015 a petition against the fare hike imposed by the Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit.

"Yet until now the SC has not decided on this issue and the fare increase continues to be imposed until now but the service did not improve," Colmenares said.

Zarate said the high tribunal should resolve other consumer issues related to public utilities.

One of these is the petition filed by Bayan Muna before the SC directing Smart and Globe Telecom to refund billions of pesos it overcharged on text messages of its subscribers.

"The refund amounted to P17.7 billion in 2014 and every month the SC delays in deciding the case, deprives consumers of billions of their own money," Zarate says.

The SC also needs to resolve Bayan Muna's petitions against water rate hike, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, and the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Retail Competition Open Access (RCOA).

"The TRO on RCOA was issued more than a year ago on February 21, 2017 and until now contestable customers cannot leave the Meralco monopoly for fear of violating the strange TRO issued by the court on this case," Zarate said.

"The petition against TRAIN was filed on January 11, 2018 asking the Court to restrain this anti-poor and regressive government imposition. Up to now, the TRAIN law continues to wreak havoc on the poor while another tax imposition is due at the end of this year," he added.

On the other hand, Colmenares said the SC should be prioritizing cases that involve "anti-people" policies affecting millions of Filipinos, and not the "wishes" of a single individual who seek to remove Sereno from her post.  —LBG, GMA News