Sereno rallying support from public — lawyer

MANILA, Philippines — Embattled Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno is gathering from the public the support in hurdling the impeachment case against her that she has not obtained from the judiciary so far.

Lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, complainant in the impeachment case against Sereno in Congress, said this yesterday as he cited her visibility in recent public forums.

“CJ Sereno is doing the rounds lately in an obvious move to gather public sympathy, which she did not get from colleagues in the SC and from judges and court employees,” Gadon told The STAR.

“But I think it’s too late because her trust rating is very low at 31 percent and is even going down,” he added.

Sereno appeared in at least three forums last week where she talked about judicial independence and how she is becoming a victim of injustice.

In a dialogue with Christian churches organized by the Philippine Campus Crusade for Christ last Nov. 8, Sereno accused the House justice committee of violating her constitutional right when it rejected her plea for her lawyers to cross-examine witnesses in her impeachment case.

“It’s a basic right of every citizen to be defended by who she wants to be defended. If this can happen to a chief justice, it can happen to anyone. If my rights are not observed, nobody’s rights are safe in this country,” she was quoted as saying.

She also said that witnesses “were being threatened” to invent stories against her.

In the same church gathering, which was closed to media coverage, Sereno also asked the public for prayers and support, especially for her children who she said have been greatly affected by the allegations against her. 

Sereno also attended the 55th Philippine Economic Society Annual Meeting and Conference in Quezon City on Nov. 8.

She called for judicial independence and the rule of law, which she said are both crucial to restoring investor confidence and achieving economic prosperity.

“We can only ensure protection of the rights of every citizen including those in the business community if we have a judiciary that is truly independent and strong,” she told the business community in her keynote address.

Sereno cited the importance of what she called “economy of good words” or “words that build up, rather than tear down.”

“Words that elevate the level of discourse in a nation, words that allow people to hope, to look forward to a country that they can be proud of — a country where truth, justice, fairness and righteousness abound,” she said.

“A country where one can hear words of kindness, compassion, empathy for those who have little, but a country also made strong and firm by honesty and integrity,” she added.

Sereno did not directly allude to President Duterte, who’s known for his offensive and foul-mouthed public speeches.

Two days earlier or last Nov. 6, Sereno appeared in the 8th International Conference on the Training of the Judiciary in Taguig City.

In that event, she also rallied the judiciary to fight for its independence amid what she branded as “resurgence of political forces threatening and harassing the independence of the judiciary.”

“We note that in troubled times in the past, kings would demand that courts would pronounce their acts as legal, not because kings did not have the physical force to impose their will, but rather, that kings wanted their acts to have the force of moral legitimacy, a legitimacy that many times was perceived to come from courts of law,” she lamented, without direct attribution to any political personality in the parallelism. 

Sereno said that she would continue to perform her duties amid her impeachment case during the annual convention of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) at Crowne Plaza Hotel last Oct.18. 

She assured judges that she remained committed to fulfilling her promise of instituting reforms and bringing the judiciary closer to the people.

The judges and court employees have so far not issued support for their embattled judiciary head – unlike the during the impeachment of the late chief justice Renato Corona in 2012 where they issued a manifesto of support and even held “Black Monday” protests to support him.

Sereno’s lawyers earlier downplayed the lack of support from the judiciary, saying the SC chief doesn’t want judges and court employees involved in the impeachment issue and that she would rather have them focus on judicial duties.

But at the same time, they said it is not yet too late for issuance of manifesto from the judges and court employees as this could still be possible later on in the impeachment proceedings.

Gadon bared earlier that at least two colleagues of Sereno in the high court have expressed willingness to testify against her.

The Palace has already called for her resignation to spare the judiciary of further damage from the impeachment case. 

But Sereno’s camp rejected such a call, saying resignation has never been an option for the SC chief. They also claimed that such call was proof that the charges against her have no basis and would not stand in Senate trial.

The House of Representatives committee on justice has found the complaint sufficient in form and substance. It is set to start hearing the charges on Nov. 20 to determine existence of probable cause and decide whether to transmit the case to the Senate for trial.

Gadon’s complaint accused Sereno of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

The grounds included the alleged misdeclaration in her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth by supposedly hiding her P30-million earning as government counsel in the arbitration case involving the expropriation of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.

The complaint also cited her supposed extravagant spending of judicial funds by purchasing a P5-million Toyota Land Cruiser and traveling on first-class flights and staying at swanky hotels.

It also included Sereno’s order in 2012 to reopen a regional constitutional administrative office in Cebu without the collegial approval of the Court, which was later revoked by the SC.  

Lastly, Gadon’s complaint cited the Chief Justice’s alleged inactions on the applications for survivorship benefits of spouses of justices and judges and also on filling of vacancies in key posts in the judiciary allegedly to wait for members of her staff to qualify.