Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (who is currently on leave) is reported to be packing her things and asking Supreme Court (SC) officials to take care of her staff once she is out of office.

According to The Manila Times, well-placed sources in the judiciary said six boxes of documents were brought out of the Office of the Chief Justice last week. The issue was reported by security officials to the Office of the Acting Chief Justice to make sure if there was clearance for the release of the boxes.

It was learned that Jill Dedumo, one of Sereno’s staff members, was in charge of the documents to be brought out of the Office of the Chief Justice.

SC security men were told to halt the release of the documents and secure a clearance first from the Office of Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio.

Dedumo, apparently, coordinated with the rallyists outside of the tribunal who expressed support of Sereno, as stated by the source.

Calls for resignation

Two more groups called for the resignation and ouster of Sereno, who is facing an impeachment complaint in Congress and a separate quo warranto case seeking her disqualification from office, citing her supposed failure to file a complete set of statements of assets, liabilities and net worth or SALN.

A rally on Padre Faura Street on Monday, May 6, was staged by the groups to throw support to justices of the Supreme Court and uphold its jurisdiction to rule on the quo warranto case.

These two groups were the Citizens Crime Watch (CCW) led by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, and Sereno Resign and Oust (SRO), led by urban poor leader Ka Poneng Tolentino.

Both leaders called for Sereno’s resignation in the middle of the quo warranto case before the high court, and the separate impeachment case before the House of Representatives.

At present, Sereno’s resignation is the only key to saving her from being ousted via quo warranto proceedings.