Panelo: Duterte has no hand in Sereno impeach bid

Presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo INQUIRER.net file photo/ NESTOR CORRALES

(Updated, 1:31 p.m.) President Rodrigo Duterte has no involvement on the impeachment case against Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Presidential Legal Adviser Sal Panelo said Wednesday.

“Hindi totoo yun…Never nakialam ang Presidente sa kanyang gabinete, doon pa kaya sa labas (ng gabinete),”  he said in a press briefing in Quezon City.

(That is not true… The President never even interfered with the affairs of the Cabinet, what more outside the Cabinet.)

Panelo said the President is not interested on the chief justice’s ouster.

“Hindi naman nakikialam ang Presidente… Ayaw niyang makialam (He doesn’t want to interfere), it doesn’t matter to him,” he said.

“Wag kalimutan (Don’t forget), impeachment is a numbers game,” he added.

An impeachment case was filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon against Sereno for alleged corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violations of the Constitution.

Sereno, meanwhile, has already filed her reply to the complaint. /jpv