Sereno questions Duterte list

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. RAFFY LERMA

WARNING of a potential constitutional crisis, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Monday questioned allegations that seven judges had been involved in illegal drugs.

In a letter to President Duterte, Sereno said only the Supreme Court was authorized to discipline members of the judiciary.

She cautioned judges named by Mr. Duterte in a rambling speech televised nationwide shortly after midnight on Sunday, against submitting themselves to investigation by the Philippine National Police, as he had directed.

She said the judges could become vulnerable to extrajudicial executions as “collateral damage.”

Apart from reminding Mr. Duterte of the separation of powers in the Constitution, the letter also sought to cast doubt on the integrity of the intelligence report on the alleged involvement of the judges named, pointing out that one was already dead, another dismissed for incompetence, and the rest had either retired or had little to do with drug cases.

In his usual expletive-laced remarks, the President ticked off names from a list of 159 officials purportedly linked to illegal drugs, including the seven judges, and said they should present themselves to the police investigators or be “hunted down.”

“It would matter greatly to our sense of constitutional order if we were given the chance to administer the appropriate preventive measures without the complications of a premature public announcement,” Sereno said in the four-page letter that likewise stressed support for  Mr. Duterte’s campaign to rid the country of illegal drugs and a “common desire to see a country that is governed by the rule of law.”

Discipline of judges

“As the sole entity charged with the discipline of judges, the Supreme Court decides when judges are excused from bench duty and report to it,” she said.

“Moreover, because of the extrajudicial killings, which you had spoken out against, perpetrated by persons and groups that remain unidentified, 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.”

She said because of this threat and the court’s lack of capability, it had asked the PNP to authorize judges to carry firearms to protect themselves.

Safeguarding judges

She urged the President to allow the judges he had named to continue bearing arms until formal criminal charges had been brought against them.

Sereno said 26 judges had been assassinated since 1999, many of them victims of crime lords.

“To safeguard the role of the judges as the protector of constitutional rights, I would caution them very strongly against ‘surrendering’ or making themselves physically accountable to any police officer in the absence of any duly issued warrant of arrest that is pending.”

Sereno raised questions about the judges named on the list: Lorenda Mupas of Dasmariñas, Cavite province, was dismissed in 2007 for gross ignorance of the law and misconduct; Roberto Navidad of Calbayog, Samar province, was killed on Jan. 14 at the age of 69; Rene Gonzales of Iloilo City retired on  June 20; Exequil Dagala of Dapa-Socorro, Surigao province, Adriano Savillo of Iloilo City, Domingo Casiple of Kalibo, Aklan province, and Domingo Casiple have no jurisdiction over drug cases, just like Gonzales; and Antonio Reyes of Baguio City presides over designated cases in a multisala court.

“It would be helpful to know the specifics on how judges without jurisdiction over drug cases influence the drug trade in their localities,” Sereno said in her letter coursed through Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Judge probed

Sereno disclosed the court was quietly investigating a judge for possible illegal drug activity, but she said he  was not on the Duterte list.

“The court is aware that a good reputation is the primary badge of credibility and the only legacy that many of our judges can leave behind,” she said.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo defended the President’s move.

“The announcement is to the judges’ advantage as it will give them the opportunity to clear their names through the media rather than when cases are formally filed against them which will give them a short time to file their counteraffidavits, and preclude from discussing their defense in public because it will become subjudice,” Panelo said. With a report from Leila B. Salaverria