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Robredo: SC’s affirmation of Sereno’s ouster a dark moment for PHL


Vice President Leni Robredo lamented the blow dealt to "the heart" of the Philippines' Constitutional system after the Supreme Court made final its decision to oust former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Tuesday.

Voting 8-6, the high tribunal denied Sereno's motion for reconsideration that sought the reversal of the granting of the challenge to her eligibility to occupy the coveted top judge post.

"Today, eight members of the highest court in the land cemented into jurisprudence a ruling widely decried—within and outside the legal profession—as unjust, both in its substance as well as the manner in which it was reached," Robredo said in a statement.

"Many of us will, without doubt, feel rage or grief—or perhaps a mixture of both—at the finality of this thrust into the heart of our Constitutional system. Many will say that justice is well and truly dead, with the Constitution nonchalantly cast aside by those who should have been its foremost guardians," she added.

Robredo said that this is indeed a "dark moment" for the republic, but said that it is merely one of the many battles that Filipinos will have to fight for democracy.

"And that rage, and that grief, are warranted, for this is indeed a dark moment for our republic and all of us who aspire for the rule of law. But in our rage and grief, we cannot give in to despair, for this is but one of the many battles that we must fight for our democracy, and for the people it is intended to serve," she said.

Robredo called for Filipinos to remain vigilant for "other impending assaults" on the Constitution and laws, as well as the freedoms they were enacted to protect.

She added that Filipinos must have an "unquenchable fire of resolve" to defend and rebuild the country's democracy.

"We must stand firm for a nation where law is an instrument for achieving fairness and justice, and not a weapon for justifying spite and legitimizing oppression. We must commit ourselves to defend what remains of our democracy, and to rebuild what has been cast down," she said.

Last May 11, in an unprecedented move, the SC majority voted in favor of Solicitor General Jose Calida's petition for quo warranto, which questioned Sereno's integrity over the alleged non-filing of some mandatory asset declarations.

Before the month ended, Sereno had appealed her case before her colleagues in a voluminous court filing that reiterated previously raised arguments and packed expressions of protest by lawyers, law teachers and deans and former lawmakers. — BM, GMA News

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