Duterte to House: Rush Sereno impeachment

‘NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER’ Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno strikes a defiant pose while speaking at an Araw ng Kagitingan event in Quezon City, where she challenged President Duterte to prove he has no part in the bid to impeach her. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

DAVAO CITY — Dropping his supposed noninterference policy on matters outside the scope of the executive department, President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday urged the House of Representatives to fast-track the impeachment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

“I’m putting you (Sereno) on notice that I’m now your enemy and you have to be out of the Supreme Court,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech at Davao International Airport before flying to China for an economic forum.

“I will ask Speaker (Pantaleon) Alvarez now, kindly fast-track the impeachment. She is bad for the Philippines,” he said.

“I held my temper before because she’s a woman. This time, I’m asking the congressmen and the Speaker: ‘Do it now. Cut the drama or else I will do it for you,’” he added.

For his part, Speaker Alvarez said the House would oblige the President.

“It will be done once we resume sessions,” he told the Inquirer in a text message.

Coequal branches

But former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said the President’s directive to the House was a patent disregard of the constitutional provision on the independence of the three coequal branches of government.

“It’s a clear case of executive overreach because the power to remove an impeachable public official rests exclusively on the House and the Senate,” Hilbay told the Inquirer by phone.

“The President, in making strong statements about the removal of the Chief Justice, is in violation of that particular design of the Constitution,” he added.

Opposition Rep. Tomasito Villarin said Mr. Duterte’s instruction to the House “clearly manifests his totalitarian nature and abhorrence [of] democratic values.”

“It is indeed a day full of ironies when a President orders a coequal branch [of government] to fast-track an impeachment against the Chief Justice whom he declares an enemy,” Villarin said in a statement.

“The President is playing god and arrogating unto himself powers over Congress and the Speaker merely submitting to his whims,” he added.

Congress is in the third week of a seven-week summer recess. It will reconvene on May 15.

The House leadership earlier entertained the possibility of waiting for the Supreme Court to resolve first a quo warranto petition brought by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Sereno.

If the high court rules to oust the Chief Justice, the impeachment case in the House will be mooted and there will be no trial in the Senate.

‘Now I’ll really hit you’

Until Monday, Mr. Duterte had repeatedly denied having anything to do with the moves to impeach Sereno, saying “I just cover the executive department.”

But Sereno’s insinuation in a speech at an Araw ng Kagitingan event on Monday that Mr. Duterte is behind Calida’s challenge to the legitimacy of her appointment angered the President.

“I have told Chief Justice Sereno that I am not into the habit of running after enemies. I have no history [of] that. [Former Speaker Prospero] Nograles during his heyday filed so many cases [against me], reaching … the Supreme Court, [but] I never retaliated,” the President said at Davao International Airport.

“I told you, Sereno, I have not dipped my hands into it, but if you are insisting, then count me in,” he said.

Mr. Duterte said he would also “egg Calida to do his best.”

“I’ll personally follow it up because we’re now enemies. I already told you I’m not behind it but you talk too much. Now I’ll really hit you. I will help any investigator [pursuing the case]. I will see to it [that it succeeds],” he said.

Special treatment

The President said the House was taking too long to impeach Sereno because the Chief Justice wanted to get special treatment.

“Who is she to get special treatment? A teacher who failed to file a statement of assets, liabilities and [net worth] was removed, but this woman who earned attorney’s fees and from the government [would not file]?” he said, referring to one of the articles of impeachment approved by the House justice committee against Sereno.

The Chief Justice has also been accused of failing to pay P2 million in taxes as well as falsifying and tampering with court resolutions.

She is also alleged to have spent excessively on “opulent” hotels and a luxury official vehicle, as well as flying business or first class.

Sereno and Mr. Duterte first clashed in 2016 when she asserted the judiciary’s authority to discipline the judges that he had linked to illegal drugs and ordered to turn themselves in.

Other critics of Mr. Duterte have also been ousted, punished or threatened, including detained Sen. Leila de Lima, Commission on Human Rights, and Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang who investigated allegations that Mr. Duterte has hidden wealth. —WITH REPORTS FROM MARLON RAMOS, VINCE F. NONATO AND NESTOR CORRALES IN MANILA AND AFP