The removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno cannot be short-circuited by an improper quo warranto action before the Supreme Court.

A petition for quo warranto to oust the chief magistrate cannot supplant the categorical provision of the Constitution that a chief justice, like the rest of the impeachable officials, can only be removed on impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate for “culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust”.

If by any stretch of the imagination, failure to file prior years’ SALNs can be subsumed under “betrayal of public trust”, then it must be the Senate as the impeachment court which must resolve this issue.

The ploy of Solicitor General Jose Calida in interposing a petition for quo warranto before the high court, albeit at the active instigation and with endorsement of the House leadership, is unconstitutional because it inveigles the Supreme Court to emasculate the House of Representatives and the Senate of their respective jurisdictions to impeach and remove the chief magistrate once warranted.

After compelling Sereno to file an indefinite leave of absence when the ouster plot against her engineered by no less than seven Justices failed, the same Justices are given the sham opportunity to achieve their objective of removing Sereno through the quo warranto petition.

The quo warranto action must be ultimately dismissed not only because it has no basis and has already prescribed, but it is also an indefensible assault on the Constitution.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN