Bishops ask: Is there not a separation of powers?

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

President Rodrigo Duterte has no right to order Congress to expedite the impeachment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Catholic bishops said on Tuesday.

“How can [Mr. Duterte] order Congress? Is there not a separation of powers? He really has a dictatorial bent,” said Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

On Monday, the President, insisting he had no hand in the moves to remove Sereno from office, declared himself an “enemy” of Sereno and said the Chief Justice was “bad for the Philippines.”

He said he would ask the House of Representatives to fast-track the impeachment of Sereno.

Malacañang on Tuesday walked back President’s statement, saying it was directed at the members of his party PDP-Laban in the House.

Blaming others

“The President, as party chair of the PDP-Laban, called for the impeachment of Chief Justice Sereno. This was directed to the House of Representatives members belonging to the PDP-Laban,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

Pabillo said the President was blaming others for his ineffectiveness.

No right

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said the President had no right to order Congress, an independent institution, to hasten the impeachment of Sereno.

“His act of ordering Congress is a sign of his being dictatorial and authoritarian, a breach of the Philippine Constitution. His act is impeachable,” Bastes said.

Opposition coalitions also protested the President’s attacks on Sereno, reminding him that he was neither above the Constitution nor was he the state.

Tindig Pilipinas and Movement Against Tyranny questioned how the President could disown the quo warranto petition brought by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Sereno then order him to “do his best” in oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

‘So much polarization’

“His brusque order for the House of Representatives to fast-track an impeachment process his solicitor general has tried to derail gives lie to his efforts to wash his hands [of] this persecution of Sereno,” the Movement Against Tyranny said in a statement.

Tindig Pilipinas said the Duterte administration had “caused so much polarization, acrimony, repeated violations of the rule of law and corruption.”

“[To] declare anyone an enemy who displeases you, much more someone who is your equal in [government] under the Constitution, is unbecoming of someone who styles himself a humble civil servant,” the group said in a statement.

Opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV insisted at a news conference on Tuesday that the President was behind the moves to remove Sereno from office.

In the House, opposition lawmakers said the Chief Executive, by asking Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to hasten the impeachment of Sereno, showed himself to be the mastermind of the moves to unseat the Chief Justice.

“President Duterte’s attacks against Chief Justice Sereno is also an attack against democracy, which only displays his dictatorial desires and plans to control all branches of government,” ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said in a statement. —With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Nikko Dizon and DJ Yap