Sereno defends judges tagged in Duterte drug list

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno defended the seven trial court judges named by President Duterte as among those involved in the illegal drugs trade as she cautioned judges not to surrender to police without warrants of arrest.

READ: Sereno to judges: Don’t surrender to cops sans arrest warrant

Sereno, in a four-page letter coursed through Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, said the seven judges have not been handling drug related cases and cannot be in anyway involved in the criminal activity.

Trial court judges have been victims of assassinations, with 26 victims since 1999. Many of them were believed to have been silenced by crime lords and drug lords, Sereno said.

“The Court would consider it important to know the source and basis of any allegation that specific judges are involved in the illegal drug trade in line with its duty to exercise administrative supervision over all lower courts,” said Chief Justice Sereno in the letter released by the Supreme Court on Monday.

LOOK: Sereno’s letter to Duterte on linking judges to illegal drugs

The Chief Justice aired concern on the extrajudicial killings of people suspected to be behind the drugs trade.

“Our judges may have been rendered vulnerable and veritable targets for any of those persons and groups who may consider judges as acceptable collateral damage in the war on drugs,” said Sereno. JE/rga

RELATED VIDEO