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Sereno asks SC to stop disbarment threat, junk show cause order


Ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has asked the Supreme Court  to set aside its threat to remove her from the Philippine roll of attorneys for allegedly violating a court rule on pending cases and casting ill motives to some of its magistrates.

Sereno has filed her compliance to the SC show cause order she wants junked, arguing she had the right to respond to public "attacks" against her by her accusers, a statement on Friday from her team said.

Disbarring her on the basis of her "calls for fairness," which she said were made as a "party-litigant" "directly affected" by the outcome of the case, would be the "height of injustice," the statement quoted Sereno as saying.

"Respondent had to contend with the numerous false and baseless accusations thrown against her all over the media," the statement said, quoting her court filing.

"No less than the Solicitor General of the Republic himself repeatedly attacked Respondent and publicly discussed the merits of the petition and even made personal attacks on Respondent, not only through the media but also through his personal social media (Twitter) account," it added.

When they ousted her from the SC last month, Sereno's fellow justices also asked her to explain why she should not be sanctioned for allegedly violating the Code of Professional Responsibility and the Code of Judicial Conduct by violating the sub judice rule -- or making comments that could result in the prejudging of her case -- and for casting "aspersions and ill motives" to them.

The landmark SC decision said Sereno may be held liable for disbarment by "repeatedly discussing the merits" of her case in a manner that could sway the tribunal's vote and influence public opinion, behavior they said may amount to conduct "unbecoming" of a judge and a lawyer.

But Sereno, who openly criticized the ouster bids against her in several public appearances, said she could not be faulted for publicly explaining her side because her demands for due process were left "unheeded."

The statement cited the House justice committee's denial of her appeal to cross-examine her impeachment accusers, the denial of her right to be heard by the "proper tribunal" -- the Senate impeachment court -- and by a fair one, as she continued to protest the non-inhibition of six "biased" justices from the case against her before the SC.

“Against this backdrop, Respondent cannot reasonably be expected to keep her silence despite vigorous assaults on her integrity. It would certainly be unjust to punish Respondent for speaking publicly under the circumstances,” Sereno said, according to the statement.

“The public utterances in question did not create any serious and imminent threat to the administration of justice,” she said, claiming her questioned statements were merely reiterations of her arguments in court filings. “In no way did such utterances prevent or delay this Court from rendering its judgment on the petition.” 

She said the administrative proceedings against her would be "highly incongruous" if the six justices she wanted out of the case, "who have blatantly transgressed the boundaries of impartiality and manifested actual bias and prejudice" against her, would not be disqualified from deciding it.

The magistrates she wanted to inhibit from hearing and deciding Solicitor General Jose Calida's petition for quo warranto were Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam and Samuel Martires. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/LBG, GMA News

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