Category: supreme court

marvic leonen: quo warranto “a legal abomination”

I DISSENT.

This Petition should have been dismissed outright and not given due course. It does not deserve space in judicial deliberation within our constitutional democratic space. Even if the Chief Justice has failed our expectations, quo warranto, as a process to oust an impeachable officer and a sitting member of the Supreme Court, is a legal abomination. It creates a precedent that gravely diminishes judicial independence and threatens the ability of this Court to assert the fundamental rights of our people. We render this Court subservient to an aggressive Solicitor General. We render those who present dissenting opinions unnecessarily vulnerable to powerful interests.

Granting this Petition installs doctrine that further empowers the privileged, the powerful, and the status quo.

A better reading of the Constitution requires us to read words and phrases in the context of the entire legal document. Thus, the general grant of original jurisdiction for quo warranto actions to this Court in Article VIII, Section 5(1) should be read in the context of the provisions of Article XI, Sections 2 and 3 , as well as the principles of judicial independence and integrity inherent in a constitutional order implied in Article VIII, Sections 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the Constitution.” G.R. 237428, Republic v Sereno, Leonen J. dissenting.

sereno and the supremes, pNoy and dengvaxia

whew, what a week, and it’s only wednesday.

on tuesday came the oral arguments sa supreme court on the quo warranto case vs cj sereno (tuesday) that certainly had the makings of a drawn-out catfight between associate justice teresita de castro and the embattled CJ, but cooler heads prevailed, shucks.  seriously though, i pray that similar cool prevails when the time comes to rule on the quo warranto.

no matter what the solgen-who-has-never-lost-a-case says, it is not for the supremes to kick out the chief: it would be so unethical, it would be disgraceful, it would be unjust, and it would be undignified, to be so obviously pandering to self- and vested interests: there would be nowhere (for the justice system) to go but down.  the only way the supremes can come out of this smelling like roses would be if if they were gracious enough to give sereno her day in court, the senate impeachment court.

the very next day, wednesday, nambulaga naman si senator dick gordon with the blue ribbon committee’s final report on the dengvaxia mess that finds pNoy,  ex-dbm sec butch abad, and ex-doh sec janet garin guilty of malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance  …

Malfeasance is an affirmative act that is illegal or wrongful. In tort law it is distinct from misfeasance, which is an act that is not illegal but is improperly performed. It is also distinct from Nonfeasance, which is a failure to act that results in injury.

nakakaloka.  in other words

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee, in its report, found that the Dengvaxia program was implemented with “undue haste” by Aquino, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

“Aquino, Garin, Abad and other officials are primary conspirators and must be held criminally liable… and must be prosecuted for all the tragedy, damage and possible deaths resulting from the Dengvaxia mass vaccination program,” Gordon said in a press conference.

parang kinakarma nang todo si pNoy.  malinaw by now that it was a very bad idea appointing such a young chief justice.  malinaw din na it was a very bad idea rushing the dengvaxia purchase and mass vaccination.

hard not to wonder why such mistakes were made in the first place, mistakes that could have been avoided.  one theory is that they were so sure mar roxas would be pNoy’s successor, as in, six more years, and sereno and the supremes would have had their backs?  well, karma’s a bitch, someone tell the duterte admin.

‘Miraculous resurrection of the dead,’ says Leonen of SC decision on PAL

The Supreme Court’s decision declaring as legal the retrenchment of some 1,400 flight attendants and stewards of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) in 1998 “involves the miraculous resurrection of the dead,” Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said in his dissenting opinion.  Read on…

SALNs in a scofflaw society

Rene Saguisag

… The marathon House (of arguably namby-pamby tutas?) hearings may finally end but then there’s the remarkable and unexpected quo warranto (QW) proceeding filed by the Solicitor General Joe Calida. All along, the talk had been of RA 6713, until Rep. Vicente Veloso (former Court of Appeals justice) triggered a Eureka! moment in the Lower House, and in the SolGen’s QW petition, Compañero Joe unexpectedly hammered on RA3019, thusly:

“80. The SALN requirement in the Charter recognized what has already been in the statute books. As early as 1960, Congress imposed that requirement in RA3019. Section 7 of the law accordingly states:

“Section 7. Statement of assets and liabilities. Every public officer, within thirty days . . . after assuming office, and within the month of January of every other year thereafter, as well as upon the expiration of his term of office, or upon his resignation or separation from office, shall prepare and file with the office of the corresponding Department Head, or in the case of a Head of Department or chief of an independent office, with the Office of the President, or in the case of members of the Congress and the officials and employees thereof, with the Office of the Secretary of the corresponding House, a true detailed and sworn statement of assets and liabilities, including a statement of the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family expenses and amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year:….(italics added)

Interesting. If the SolGen can show me an authentic copy of a statement timely filed by him or any other incumbent where the filer disclosed the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family expenses and the amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year, I’ll eat it.

Read on…