The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Monday urged the high court to thumb down the pleas of three groups who intend to intervene in the quo warranto case before the Supreme Court (SC) against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

In a 19-page consolidated opposition, Solicitor General Jose Calida argued that lawmakers from the so-called Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), and the group of former Pag-IBIG fund chief executive officer Mel Alonzo have "no legal interest" in the case and "will unduly delay the proceedings."

Calida said they do not possess actual and material or direct and immediate interest in the petition initiated by the OSG.

The quo warranto plea seeks to void Sereno’s appointment on grounds of ineligibility stemming from her failure to comply with the requirement for submission of Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) upon her application for the top judicial post in 2012.

“[T]he interest of the party must be personal and not one based on a desire to vindicate the constitutional right of some third and unrelated party,” the OSG said.

On the part of the Makabayan bloc, the OSG explained they were not deprived of their prerogatives as legislators in the separate impeachment proceedings against Sereno at the lower House.

In the case of IBP, the OSG said that the high court already ruled in a similar previous case that the IBP had no legal interest to file a petition for quo warranto.

As for Alonzo’s group, the OSG argued that their advocacies and backgrounds and “their collective claim of patriotism and common desire to protect and uphold the Philippine Constitution” are not sufficient to establish their legal interest or legal standing in the case.

The OSG stressed that no less than Sereno is the best party to address the petition.

In their respective petitions-in-intervention, the three groups assailed the quo warranto avenue to oust the chief magistrate, insisting she may only be unseated via impeachment.