(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, April 13, called Supreme Court Chief Justice-on leave Maria Lourdes Sereno as “ignorant” and pretentious, and advised her to just resign.
The President said that Sereno’s position as head of the Supreme Court until 2030, when she turns 70, is “too long for an ignorant Chief Justice.”
Sereno, 58, was appointed as Chief Justice in August 2012 by former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III when she was only 52, in effect, giving her the top post of the tribunal for 18 years. With the move, Aquino ensured Sereno would be the Chief Justice even after Duterte’s term in 2022, and even after the term of the next President after him.
When Aquino appointed Sereno in 2012, he bypassed four other Supreme Court justices who were more “senior” than the Sereno, particularly Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and three other associate justices — Roberto Abad, Teresita De Castro and Arturo Brion.
On Friday, President Duterte reacted to Sereno’s latest pronouncements hitting him further for his earlier statements egging the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to pursue the quo warranto case against her, as well as Congress to fast-track the impeachment process against her.
Duterte explained that he castigated the Chief Justice as she was “ignorant” and “not smart” regarding her previous pronouncements on arrests, and because her colleagues at the Supreme Court themselves have issues against her.
“Eh ‘yang problema na ‘yan, kasi sabi ko ‘yung — a pretended knowledge or pretentions of who you are, stop it. Just because you are the Chief Justice, you are not smart,” he said.
“Kasi kung smart ka, matatag ka diyan. Walang lalaban sa iyo, at hindi ka nagkakamali sa mga declarations mo. If you are that ignorant, you better go. You are just risking the country into a chaos. Umalis ka na,” the President said, shortly after his arrival from his China and Hong Kong trip on Friday, April 13.
Duterte also said that Sereno should not have been appointed as Chief Justice in the first place.
-Duterte to Sereno: “Give way”
“Tsaka hindi ka dapat diyan talaga in the first place. And that term of yours — until what? 2030? That’s — that’s too long for an ignorant Chief Justice. It’s too long. Tama na ‘yan. Give way. If I were you, I will resign,” he said.
Duterte particularly cited Sereno’s earlier statements calling on judges to resist arrest by law enforcers if they cannot present any arrest warrant.
“Alam mo kung bakit I castigated you in public? Ignorante ka eh,” he said, answering a question by a reporter at the Davao International Airport.
“There was a time, we were in the thick of the campaign at sinabi mo sa public, ‘Do not submit yourself to an arrest unless there is a warrant for your arrest’,” he recalled.
“Sabi ko, ‘hindi ko susundin ‘yan, Madame Justice kasi b*** ‘yang batas mo,” the President said.
Duterte earlier said that this “wrong” understanding of the law by Sereno was “very dangerous” could lead to anarchy.
“You know ‘pag ganun ‘yan, lalaban lahat ‘yan. Eh kung walang warrant, if there is a crime committed in the presence of the military and the police, bakit? Magpo-produce ba siya ng warrant galing sa’yo?” he said.
“Kaya sabi ko torpe ka, that’s why (you) should not be there. For a Chief Justice, hindi mo alam ‘yan? Bakit ka magbigay ng salita ng ganun? Kaya nagalit ako sa iyo because even an ordinary flunker ng law, alam ‘yan.”
The President then lectured the Chief Justice on the instances were persons in authority and civilians can make an arrest.
“The military and the police, and persons in authority, and civilians for that matter, walang koneksyon sa gobyerno can make arrest, citizen’s arrest,” he said.
“The crime is about to [be] committed in my presence or the crime is being committed, or the crime has in fact been committed tapos tumakbo ka, hinabol kita, and — and I will make an arrest.”
“You go back to your transcripts sa mga announcement ko,” Duterte said.
“And so talagang dapat paalisin ka, noon pa,” he added.
The quo warranto petition against Sereno filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida on March 5, 2018 is based on Sereno’s failure to submit at least 10 Statements of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth during the years 1986 to 2006.
Sereno, on the other hand, claimed that the Judicial and Bar Council had sufficiently waived this requirement.
But recently, her camp claimed they have recovered Sereno’s 11 other SALNs, specifically for the years 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2002.
One of her spokespersons, lawyer Joselee Deinla, claimed that they would present the recovered SALNs in the proper forum.
(Eagle News Service)
