“One man is not the Constitution,” Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said this on Monday apparently taking a swipe at President Rodrigo Duterte during an event organized by the Movement Against Tyranny (MAT).
The embattled Chief Justice on-leave led the honorees in MAT’s Araw ng Kagitingan event, recognizing her fight for judicial independence.
Aside from MAT, organizers of the event include Let’s Organize for Democracy and Integrity (LODI), Coalition Against Darkness and Dictatorship (CADD), and Ladies Who Launch.
Sereno said the Constitution rules the country and should serve as a guide in fighting democracy.
She also said the Constitution is imbued with God-given rights such as right to be presumed innocent and right to due process.
“Our guide should be the Constitution and Constitution alone. The Constitution is the ruler and authority in the Philippines, not one man,” Sereno noted.
“The Constitution emphasizes that the greatest power is the Constitution and all men are subject to it…The nation is to be ruled by laws, not by man,” Sereno said.
This is the first time that Sereno took a swipe at Duterte, whom she believed has a hand in moves to oust her as Chief Justice.
She then called on the people to fight for what is right.
“We must maintain independence and not beholden to any political power,” Sereno said. /kga
