BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Groups supportive of Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno plan to picket the Supreme Court in Baguio City on Tuesday morning.
"Give her a day in the impeachment court," the Coalition for Justice said at a gathering of Sereno supporters at Sarmiento Hall at the University of the Philippines Baguio.
The Supreme Court will hold its first summer session on Tuesday morning. Although the court's agenda is confidential, among the matters pending before it is the quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General, which seeks to invalidate Sereno's appointment as chief justice in 2012.
Solicitor General Jose Calida claims that Sereno failed to comply with the requirement to submit her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth for years in government service and that her appointment should be voided.
Sereno has said she and other applicants for the chief justice position had "substantially complied" with the Judicial and Bar Council's requirements. The SALN submission had been relaxed for applicants in 2012.
The CFJ, mostly composed of faith-based groups, maintained that Sereno "represents every Filipino seeking justice," while reminding the SC that "in every case, but especially in hers, judges should not only be impartial but must also appear to be impartial or lese they must voluntarily recuse themselves."
Among the resource persons who testified against Sereno at House hearings on the impeachment complaint against her are sitting justices.
The groups claimed that the deliberations on the quo warranto action have taken too long. Sereno has asked the court to dismiss it outright, saying the 1987 Constitution specifies how impeachable officials can be removed from office.
The impeachment trial, the group "Every Woman" said impeachment "is the only constitutionally recognized mode by which to remove a sitting chief justice."
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines had issued a similar statement in recent weeks.
The groups plan to hold a candlelight vigil at the city's Malcolm Square before heading to the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning.