Maria Lourdes Sereno

Maria Lourdes "Meilou" Aranal-Sereno (Tagalog: [sɛˈrɛnɔ]; born Maria Lourdes Punzalan Aranal; July 2, 1960) is a Filipina lawyer and judge who served as de facto chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2012 until 2018.

Appointed as an associate justice by President Benigno Aquino III in August 2010, she became the second youngest person (at the age of 52) to assume the post of chief justice in August 2012. She is considered to be the first woman head of a judicial branch in any Southeast Asian sovereign state.

She was removed from office by way of an 8–6 decision by the Supreme Court over a quo warranto petition, rendering her appointment as chief justice null and void. Sereno had faced criticism from the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for expressing her criticism of his Philippine drug war, and some saw the petition as politically motivated. Nevertheless, the quo warranto petition was based on Sereno's blatant failure to file her SALN 11 times during her stint as a law school professor in UP, which questioned her probity and integrity required as chief justice. In the same way, the court also found that upon nomination for the post of Chief Justice, Sereno failed to file her SALN to the Judicial and Bar Council. At the same time she was removed from office, Sereno had also been facing an impeachment trial prior to the granting of the petition, but after its granting, such trial became moot and was never scheduled.