CHIEF JUSTICE. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno waves to supporters the day she returned to the Supreme Court on May 9, 2018, after two months of leave. Photo by Maria Tan/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines (5th UPDATE) – In an unprecedented and historic move, the Supreme Court (SC) ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday, May 11.

Voting 8-6, the SC en banc granted the quo warranto petition to remove Sereno from office on the basis of an invalid appointment. The decision is "immediately executory without need for further action," SC Spokesperson Theodore Te said during Friday's press briefing.

Sereno attended the en banc session where 8 justices voted for the quo warranto. They are: Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo De Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, Samuel Martires, Andres Reyes Jr, and Alexander Gesmundo.

The 6 dissenters are as follows: Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr, Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perlas Bernabe, Marvic Leonen, and Benjamin Caguioa.

Nine of the justices said she violated requirements on the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). The same number of justices ruled that quo warranto was the proper remedy in the ouster of Sereno.

Velasco voted to dismiss the quo warranto petition, but agreed in a separate vote, that it was the proper remedy, except that it was premature.

While Sereno attended the en banc, she was asked to step out of the room when the other justices deliberated on the quo warranto petition.

The decision, penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, was expected from the en banc, whose members had made their negative sentiments towards Sereno known.

This is the first time that the SC removed its own chief, in a petition widely slammed for violating Sereno's constitutional right to an impeachment process.

She is the second chief justice to be removed from office after Renato Corona was ousted in 2012. He was found guilty of betraying the public trust and committing culpable violation of the Constitution.

What happens now?

Sereno will have a chance to file a motion for reconsideration.

During the appeal period, the focus shifts to the House of Representatives which is yet to vote on Sereno's impeachment. Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III has raised the possibility of the Upper House questioning the validity of the quo warranto ouster.

Constitutional Law professor Dan Gatmaytan said that the Senate can already assert its jurisdiction even without the articles of impeachment from the House. Gatmaytan said they can just invoke their constitutional mandate as an impeachment court.

If the Senate chooses to assert jurisdiction, it will result in a constitutional crisis, he said.

Gatmaytan likened the situation to the Marcos period when the Supreme Court was accused of enabling a dictatorship.

"When they started doing that, ignoring what the law says for a political outcome, it diminishes itself, and I think that's what the Court is walking into right now," Gatmaytan said.

During the press briefing, Te said the decision ordered the Judicial and Bar Council to "commence the application and nomination process" after the post of chief justice was declared vacant. – Rappler.com</s>One by one, the Deep State stooges in the Philippines are removed from office, usually in disgrace for fighting it out even from a very weak position. Previously, it was Secretary of Justice Leila Delima, who herself was involved in the proliferation of methamphetamine to finance her 2016 senatorial campaign. This time around, it’s the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Maria Lourdes Sereno, who is removed from her undeserved position by her own peers.

Through the Supreme Court, the long arm of the Western Deep State has been removing legitimately elected sitting presidents who were not willing to toe the Western establishment line.

In the case of ex-CJ Maria Lourdes Sereno, her appointment to the Supreme Court was illegal from the very beginning due to her failure to submit the most basic requirement imposed on every government official of the land, i.e. the submission of Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth [SALN].

In addition to the above violation, among other questionable actions, the outgoing “Chief Justice” failed to pass the psychological examination prior to her appointment as Chief Justice. Her actions as of late even proved some of those findings of being mentally unfit to hold the position being sought after.

The report described Sereno as dramatic and emotional, and that “she appears energetic and all smiles and agreeable, but with religious preoccupation in almost all significant aspects of her life. She projects a happy mood but has depressive markers, too.”

Tria said: “Definitely, I won’t give her (Sereno) a 4 because of her marginal performance.”

“Her position requires diversionary thinking, she is limited on that, and on her personality, maintaining relationships…she has been failing on those. Her being emotional and dramatic affects the workforce,” she added.

Tria, however, said she did not see Sereno’s psychological exam.

“Based on the findings [of the psychologists], she is not recommendable [for the post of chief justice post],” she insisted.

Psychologists Caguingin and de Leon-Jamon, Tria’s former students, agreed with Tria but did not elaborate since they already expressed their opinions during the closed-door session.

The granting of the quo warranto petition was based on these facts, as opposed to sending her to the impeachment court instead, which is especially reserved only for qualified but erring government officials holding higher office in the country.

To put it simply, she is removed due to disqualification and not as a legitimate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Sereno was appointed to the highest position of the judiciary as a mitigating measure of the Aquino-Cojuangco government that has been found to have caused multiple deaths through the midnight decision to purchase Dengvaxia vaccines victimizing 830,000 children, and to ensure the Aquino-Cojuangco family’s continued hold on large swaths of agricultural lands that have been awarded already to the sugar farmers as beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, which started in 1986.

The Hacienta Luisita Massacre is still fresh in the minds of these local farmers-survivors of the decades old atrocities of the Yellow Cult in the country.

More videos about the Yellow Cult crimes in the Philippines are available from the link below.

The granting of the quo warranto, as filed by the Solicitor General, is the Supreme Court’s way of evading the long process of impeachment, which could have surely put the judiciary again in a very bad light.

It must be understood that the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, whom Sereno replaced, died disheartened after he was unceremoniously impeached due to a supposed highly questionable SALN after his court rendered a favorable ruling to the farmers in Hacienda Luisita, which eventually earned the ire of the Aquino government.

The remnants of the treasonous Aquino-Cojuangco administration and the Liberal party at large continue to suffer losses from all fronts. The people of the Philippines are winning in their quest for better governance through a peaceful, intelligent revolution.</s>Philippine Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has been ousted by the Supreme Court.

The court issued a ruling on May 11 declaring Sereno disqualified to head the court for “lack of integrity, honesty and probity.”

Eight justices voted to grant the petition for quo warranto initiated by the Executive Branch through Solicitor General Jose Calida.

Six justices voted against the decision.

“The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the law,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said in a statement.

“The High Court has spoken. Let us respect its decision granting the quo warranto petition as the proper remedy and the quo warranto petition ruling against Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno,” he said.

Roque, a lawyer, added that the Supreme Court is “duty-bound to uphold the Constitution.”

In a separate statement, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the Supreme Court in issuing such ruling was “only performing its constitutional duty of interpreting the provisions of the Constitution and rendering a decision on cases properly brought before it.”

Panelo explained that quo warranto and impeachment are two different legal modes of removing public officers, noting that the latter removes qualified impeachable officers while the former ousts unqualified public officials.

Sereno was appointed to the post by President Benigno Aquino 3rd, after Chief Justice Renato Corona was ousted by the Senate impeachment court in 2012 for his failure to fully disclose his wealth.

The decision, penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, declared Sereno “guilty of unlawfully holding and exercising the Office of the Chief Justice.”

“The position of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is declared vacant and the Judicial and Bar Council is directed to commence the application and nomination process,” it said.

The decision was to be executed immediately, “without need of further action from the Court.”

Moreover, Sereno was ordered to show cause within 10 days why she should not be sanctioned for violating the Code of Professional Responsibility and the Code of Judicial Conduct “for transgressing the sub judice (gag) rule and for casting aspersions and ill motives to the Members of the Supreme Court.”

Sereno, a former law professor at the University of the Philippines, became only the second chief justice to be kicked out of office.

Sereno, 57, was the youngest to be named to the Supreme Court and the first woman to lead the judiciary.

“I am a victim today,” she told reporters in a news conference. “But I am just one thousands upon thousands whose lives have been snuffed out, who continue to remain in detentions, who have been unfairly accused, unfairly victimized by the very powerful forces of society that must be exposed for what they are.”

The ousted chief magistrate claimed a “moral victory,” noting that she would have won, 6-2, if six justices she had accused of bias against her had inhibited.

Sereno was referring to Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Noel Tijam, Francis Jardeleza, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, and Samuel Martires, who voted in favor of the petition to oust her along with Associate Justices Andres Reyes Jr. and Alexander Gesmundo.

The dissenters were Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Leonen and Benjamin Caguioa.

The high court ruled that Sereno’s appointment as chief justice was void from the beginning for her failure to file the required number of statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) when she applied for the post.

Sereno had argued that she could only be removed through impeachment under the 1987 Constitution.

Calida lauded the high court for its decision, calling it a “clear exercise of judicial independence even against the highest official of the judiciary.”</s>Philippines Supreme Court justices, in a historic decision Friday, removed their own chief justice, Maria Lourdes Sereno, a known critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Voting 8-6 in a special en banc session, the Supreme Court declared void Sereno's nomination, over her alleged failure to disclose her wealth when filing of statements of assets, liabilities and net worth. 



“Respondent Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno is disqualified from and is hereby adjudged guilty of unlawfully holding and exercising the office of the chief justice,” said Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te, adding the order was effective immediately.



Sereno, who was the country's first female chief justice, is the first constitutional officer ousted outside impeachment proceedings and the second chief justice in Philippine history to be removed from office. Renato Corona was impeached in 2011 for betraying the public trust and committing culpable violation of the Constitution.



Sereno, who went on an indefinite leave in March had returned to work last Wednesday “after completing her preparation for her legal defenses against the baseless impeachment complaint filed against her”, said one of her spokespersons.



Sereno has been a staunch critic of Duterte and more specifically the drug war.

According to local media, over 4,000 drug suspects who resisted arrest have been killed in the past two years.</s>Manila: The Supreme Court of the Philippines has expelled its chief justice, Maria Lourdes Sereno, removing a key critic of President Rodrigo Duterte in a vote that activists warned signals "the death of democracy" in the country.

Sereno, the first woman to lead the judiciary, was presiding over the 'en banc' (in bench) session of the high tribunal when the justices voted 8-6 to oust her for failing to declare all her financial assets.

"Sereno is found disqualified from and is hereby adjudged guilty of unlawfully holding and exercising the office of the chief justice," the tribunal said in its decision, according to Supreme court spokesman Theodore Te.

"Accordingly, ... Sereno is ousted and excluded therefrom," it added. "This decision is immediately executory without need of further action from the court."</s>MANILA: The Philippines´ top court voted on Friday to remove its own chief justice, who faced ouster efforts after battling with President Rodrigo Duterte over human rights and his deadly war on drugs.

The decision against Maria Lourdes Sereno drew to the Manila court some 2,000 protesters who echoed charges that the sacking posed a grave threat to the nation´s democracy. Sereno, the country´s first female chief justice, is one of several high-profile critics who have found themselves targeted after speaking out against the president.

"Sereno is found disqualified from and hereby adjudged guilty of unlawfully holding and exercising the office of the chief justice," court spokesman Theodore Te told reporters. "The decision is immediately executed without further need of action from the court," Te said, adding the vote was 8-6 against Sereno.

The Supreme Court case against Sereno alleged she failed to file statements of assets and liabilities in previous years, accusations she categorically denied. Separately, Sereno is also facing an impeachment effort in the lower House of Representatives, a move which critics allege is part of a wider campaign by Duterte to destroy foes and create one-man rule.

The vote "ushers in another era of another dictatorship as the Court... puts an end to the last gasps of a dying constitutional democracy", Senator Leila de Lima, a jailed Duterte critic, wrote in a statement.

The Philippines lived under martial law a generation ago, when dictator Ferdinand Marcos used military rule to suppress his critics. Minutes after the decision was announced, a smiling Sereno emerged from the Supreme Court building to tell her supporters the fight was not over. "This day is not the end, this is just the beginning," she said, without specifying her next move.

"Let us set aside our differences because there is a greater and stronger enemy that we must all face," she told the cheering throng. The national lawyers group, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, said it will closely scrutinise the decision because it believes only the Senate has the power to dismiss a Supreme Court justice in this case.

Duterte and Sereno first clashed in 2016 when she criticised his order urging judges whom he linked to the illegal drug trade to turn themselves in as part of his crackdown. Police say they have killed around 4,200 drug suspects in Duterte´s nearly two-year-long campaign but rights groups allege the actual number is three times higher.

Duterte´s spokesman released a statement saying, "The High Court has spoken. Let us respect its decision." Sereno had resisted the ouster effort, saying in March, "The current state of the nation is one where perceived enemies of the dominant order are considered fair game for harassment, intimidation and persecution."

Other Duterte critics have also been ousted, punished or threatened, including de Lima, the Commission on Human Rights and an anti-corruption prosecutor who investigated allegations that Duterte has hidden wealth.

The president last month urged lawmakers to "fast-track" Sereno´s removal, warning that otherwise "I´ll do it for you". She has been accused of failing to pay about two million pesos ($40,000) in taxes as well as falsifying and tampering with court resolutions.

She is also alleged to have spent excessively on "opulent" hotels and a luxury official vehicle, as well as flying business or first class. Sereno is the second chief justice in a row to be ousted in the Philippines. Lawmakers convicted her predecessor, Renato Corona, in 2012 of corruption.

Then-president Benigno Aquino said the sacking was part of his anti-graft reforms, but critics said he was trying to ensure his control of the court.</s>The Supreme Court of the Philippines on Friday canceled the appointment of its chief justice, a fierce critic of the country's president, who had described her as an enemy a month ago.

The judges voted 8-6 in favor to approve a government petition that asked Maria Lourdes Sereno's appointment to be canceled, accusing her of failing to disclose all her assets.</s>MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Latest on the removal of the chief justice of the Philippines (all times local):

The Philippine Supreme Court spokesman says Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has been ousted in a vote by fellow judges acting on a government petition, which sought her removal in a move she calls unconstitutional.

Protesters display portraits of embattled Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as they mass in front of the court to rally for Sereno Friday, May 11, 2018 in Manila, Philippines. Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters massed in front of the court to rally for Sereno ahead of an expected vote by fellow justices on a government-backed petition to oust her in a move she calls unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Court spokesman Theodore Te says eight of 14 justices voted Friday to remove Sereno from the 15-member tribunal for allegedly failing to file statements of assets and liabilities as required by law. Sereno denies the allegation and did not participate in the vote.

Hundreds of protesters denouncing Sereno's ouster rallied outside the court.

Sereno has been at loggerheads with President Rodrigo Duterte and has urged Filipinos to stand up to his authoritarian rule. She also has been speaking up for the respect of law and human rights, irking Duterte at a time he has led a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left thousands of suspects dead.</s>The Philippines’ top judge, an outspoken critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly anti-drugs campaign, was removed from her position on Friday, becoming the latest of the leader’s detractors to be sanctioned or ousted from ostensibly independent institutions.

The Supreme Court on Friday voted to dismiss Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on charges that she had failed to correctly declare assets and liabilities as required by law. Ms. Sereno has denied wrongdoing.</s>The Philippine Supreme Court voted on Friday to remove Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for allegedly failing to file statements of assets and liabilities as required by law.

Court spokesman Theodore Te said eight of 14 justices voted to expel Sereno from the 15-member tribunal. Sereno, the country's first woman chief justice, denies the allegations and did not participate in the vote.

Sereno's position is vacant with immediate effect and the court has ordered the judicial and bar council to begin a new selection process, Te said.

Sereno's spokesman said she would appeal the decision.

In August last year, a case was filed against Sereno calling for her impeachment, alleging that she failed to fully declare her assets and evaded an estimated $40,000 (€33,632) in taxes. Earlier this year, a separate petition to remove her from office was filed in the Supreme Court.

Sereno has denied the allegations and argued that the widely expected ruling was unconstitutional because the country's 1987 charter provides that top officials including justices like her can only be removed by impeachment.

Read more: Investigating Duterte's drug war in Philippines — facts and fiction

Sereno had opposed many of President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial policies such as his declaration of martial law in the southern island of Mindanao and his brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

Sereno's actions caught the attention and the ire of the Southeast Asian country's firebrand president, who has a track record of going after dissidents. Duterte called Sereno an "enemy" for voting against government proposals.

Prior to her removal, her spokesperson Jojo Lacanilao told DW, President Duterte should answer why Sereno was being victimized. "Why does the presidential office want the chief justice removed? Why do president's allies in Congress want her impeached?"

In the Philippines, the country's highest officials, including the chief justice, can only be removed through impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate.

Impeachment proceedings against Sereno started in the administration-dominated Congress in September last year. In March of this year, Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a petition to remove Sereno in the Supreme Court. A quo warranto is a procedure that is used to challenge the legality of a post held by a public official.

The move was unprecedented in the Philippines and experts say could set a dangerous precedent. The opposition said the ouster of the nation's first woman chief justice left behind a "puppet Supreme Court."

"If the judges could be taken out via quo warranto, what would be left of our democracy?" Mel Sta. Maria, dean of the Far Eastern University Institute of Law, told DW.

"It will destroy the judicial independence and remove checks and balances for the different branches of the government," Maria added.

Abdiel Fajardo, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, believes the quo warranto was used as a shortcut to impeach Sereno. "For the sake of democracy, the Senate should not be deprived of its power to act as an Impeachment Tribunal,” Fajarado told DW.

Sereno is currently on indefinite leave but has remained firm in rejecting calls for her resignation. According to her spokesperson, she is looking forward to defending herself before the Senate impeachment court.

Emerging from the Supreme Court after the decision, Sereno asked hundreds of protesting supporters to organize a movement to defend justice and accountability.

"Let's continue to defend the constitution and fight wrongdoing. Let's continue to spread the message of democracy and reason," she told the crowd.

Tony La Vina, a lawyer and former dean of Ateneo School of Government, dubbed Serneo's removal "a mess."

"It's a political storm and at the heart of it is the independence of the judiciary," La Vina told DW.

Senator Risa Hontiveros called it "a direct stab to the heart of our Constitution," while her Akbayan party said the country was "a heartbeat away" from the death of its democracy.

"After having a lapdog Congress and a seriously wounded Senate, we now have a puppet Supreme Court," the party said in a statement.

Senator Francis Pangilinan, who heads the opposition Liberal party, called Sereno's removal "a mockery of the constitution."
The Supreme Court of the Philippines votes 8–6 to grant the quo warranto petition by the Solicitor General against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, removing her from office for violating requirements on the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth.